THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 

GIFT  OF 

Mrs.  Charles  S.  Aiken 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 


THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

MAGNISSIMA  CHARTA 


THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 


MAGNISSIMA  CHART  A 


ESSAY  ON  EVOLUTIONARY  AND  CONSTRUCTIVE  PACIFISM 


BY 

HENRI  LA  FONTAINE 

SENATOR  OF  BELGIUM 

PROFESSOR  OF  INTERNATIONAL  LAW 

RECIPIENT  OF  THE  NOBEL  PRIZE 


BOSTON 

WORLD  PEACE  FOUNDATION 
1916 


COPYRIGHT,  1916,  BY 
HENRI  LA  FONTAINE 


PEEFACE 

Five  years  ago,  in  1911,  asked  to  write  some  lines  on 
what  I  considered  as  the  last  stage  to  be  passed  through 
by  the  world  to  reach  the  era  of  international  security,  I 
drafted  a  rough  sketch  of  a  world  charter.1  Even  then 
others,  anxious  to  help  the  peoples  to  evade  the  dread- 
ful tragedy  which  they  foresaw  with  a  prophetic  clearness 
and  in  which  men,  willy  nilly,  are  now  taking  part,  ad- 
vocated reforms  and  suggested  remedies  intended  to  foil 
the  endeavors  of  the  mystic  or  selfish  vindicators  of 
might.  Numerous  and  various  were  the  propositions 
made,  completing  one  another  and  showing  the  complex- 
ity of  the  problem  and  its  multiple  aspects.  But  they 
were  not  combined  as  a  body  of  doctrine,  and  this  fail- 
ure perhaps  explains  their  weakness  and  powerlessness 
in  attacking  the  most  irreducible  forces  in  the  world: 
routine,  prejudice,  tradition,  the  threefold  and  secular 
armor  of  those  who  have  lived  and  are  still  living  to  the 
detriment  of  human  collectivities. 

They  are  now  performing  their  deadly  work,  those 
profitsharers  of  social  parasitism.  They  have  cheered, 
extolled,  provoked  and  led  the  great  war,  destined  in 
their  opinion  to  purify  the  world  of  all  that  is  utopian 
and  base.  And  now  voices  are  clamoring,  not  one  of 
which  dares  to  applaud  and  glorify  them.  What  these 
voices  are  asking  for  is  to  see  the  earth  cleared  of  those 
wicked  beings,  nefarious  praisers  of  murder,  plunder  and 

i  The  Existing  Elements  of  a  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  the 
World,  American  Association  for  International  Conciliation,  No.  47. 

v 


vi  PEEFACE 

arson;  and  numberless  projects  and  schemes  are  sug- 
gested for  at  last  eliminating  war  from  the  surface  of 
the  globe,  as  famine,  torture,  plague  and  slavery  have 
been. 

Under  the  aegis  of  high-minded  precursors — Castel  de 
Saint  Pierre,  Immanuel  Kant,  William  Ladd,  Elihu  Bur- 
ritt,  Henry  Eichard,  Hodgson  Pratt,  Eandal  Cremer, 
Charles  Lemonnier,  Frederic  Passy,  Bertha  von  Suttner, 
Jacques  Novikov,  Jan  de  Bloch — modestly  I  resume 
their  work,  but  systematically.  I  am  convinced  that, 
out  of  the  horrible  distress  now  over-burdening  the  peo- 
ples, the  need  for  a  stable  organization  of  the  Society  of 
States  will  arise  in  so  pressing  a  form  that  this  problem 
will  have  to  be  faced  in  all  its  aspects. 

This  I  have  tried  to  carry  out  in  a  concrete  and  precise 
form.  Whatever  may  be  the  title  given  to  the  pact  by 
which  the  States  will  in  future  settle  their  unavoidable 
relations,  the  agreement  resulting  from  deliberations  to 
be  begun  after  the  war  will  have  an  importance  at  least 
equal  to  that  which  the  Magna  Charta  had  in  securing 
public  order  within  the  States.  Would  it  really  be  too 
ambitious  to  give  a  similar  name  to  what  will  necessarily 
be  the  Magnissima  Charta  intended  to  secure  public  order 
within  the  Society  of  States  ? 

The  object  I  have  had  in  view  is  to  show  that  the  prob- 
lem can  be  considered,  that  a  complete  and  practical  solu- 
tion can  be  given  to  it  and  that  it  is  possible  to  word  a 
pact  in  terms  as  simple  as  they  are  juridical.  Such  a 
pact,  like  the  constitutions  of  the  various  modern  States, 
ought  to  be  written  in  a  tongue  which  can  be  easily  un- 
derstood by  anybody  and  which  yet  expresses  clearly  all 
that  is  essential. 

I  do  not  delude  myself  about  the  value  of  the  work  ac- 
complished. I  know  better  than  any  one  else  the  numer- 
ous verbal  difficulties  I  had  to  overcome  and  the  multi- 


PREFACE  vii 

farious  modifications  the  proposed  texts  had  to  undergo. 
If  nevertheless  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  submit  to  the  criti- 
cism of  specialists  and  to  the  public  consideration  the 
project  I  have  drafted,  it  is  not  alone  to  provoke  greatly 
desired  observations  and  corrections,  but  mainly  to  point 
out  the  aim  toward  which  the  efforts  of  all  those,  who 
purpose  to  give  to  the  world  a  lasting  and  if  possible 
definitive  peace,  should  be  directed. 

Born  in  distress  and  in  exile,  in  the  midst  of  the  people 
who,  seven  centuries  ago,  was  the  first  to  draft  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind  a  pact  of  liberty, — written  on  the  open 
sea,  the  brotherly  highway  between  the  peoples,  swung  by 
the  waves  which  no  human  power  can  ever  enslave  or 
subdue, — completed  on  the  soil  of  the  most  cosmopolitan 
democracy,  where  government  of  the  people,  by  the  peo- 
ple and  for  the  people  is  a  living  reality, — I  intrust  to 
my  fellowmen  this  imperfect  work  of  mine,  the  result  of 
long  meditation,  an  expression  of  the  hopes  of  those  who 
decline  to  despair. 

Boston,  1915./07./04. 
Independence  Day. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  author  expresses  here  his  most  hearty  gratitude 
to  Mr.  Denys  P.  Myers,  corresponding  secretary  of  World 
Peace  Foundation,  for  the  valuable  aid  given  by  him  in 
going  over  the  manuscript  and  the  proofs  of  this  book. 

He  is  not  less  grateful  to  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  Trustees  of  World  Peace  Foundation  for  the  Foun- 
dation's imprint. 


viii 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE v 

CHAPTEB 

I  GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS 1 

II  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES 11 

III  CONFERENCE  OF  STATES 47 

IV  JUDICIAL  ORGANIZATION 67 

V  INTERNATIONAL   ADMINISTRATION 75 

VI    GENERAL  AND  TRANSITORY   PROVISIONS 88 

TEXTS 

MAGNISSIMA  CHARTA 97 

Preamble 99 

Preliminary  Title:     Rights  and  Duties  of  the  States  ....  99 

First    Title:     Conference    of    States 103 

Second  Title:     Judicial  Organization 106 

Third  Title:     International  Administration 108 

Fourth  Title:     General  and  Transitory  Provisions Ill 

COMPLEMENTARY  CONVENTIONS 113 

I     Judiciary  Organization 

Explanatory  Note 115 

Complementary  Convention  for  the  Amicable  and  Judiciary 
Settlement  of  International  Disputes: 

Preliminary  Title 121 

First  Title:     Amicable  Jurisdiction 

Chapter  I  Good  Offices  and  Mediation  ....  123 
Chapter  II  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  .  124 
Chapter  III  International  Council  of  Conciliation  .  125 

Second   Title:     Arbitral   Jurisdiction 128 

Third  Title:     Contentious  Jurisdiction 131 

iz 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Fourth  Title:     International  Procedure 133 

Fifth  Title:     General  Provisions 141 

II     Sanction,  Coercion  and  Defense 

Explanatory   Note 144 

Complementary  Convention  on  Means  of  Constraint  in  In- 
ternational Relations: 

Preliminary  Title 150 

First  Title:     Means  of  Direct  Constraint 150 

Chapter      I     Armies 150 

Chapter     II     Navy 151 

Chapter  III     Armaments 152 

Chapter  IV  Direction 153 

Second  Title:     Means  of  Indirect  Constraint   .      .      .      .154 

Third  Title:     Execution  of  the  Means  of  Constraint  .      .  154 

Fourth  Title:     General  Provisions 155 

III     Emigration,  Immigration  and  Nationalization 

Explanatory  Note 157 

Complementary   Convention   on  the   International   Circula- 
tion of  Men: 

Preliminary  Title           165 

First  Title:     Emigration  and  Immigration       ....  165 

Second  Title:     Naturalization 168 

Third  Title:     General  Provisions                                          .  168 


THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

CHAPTER  I 

GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

1.  THE  work  of  rebuilding,  which  it  will  be  necessary 
to  undertake  after  the  tragic  adventure  of  the  greatest 
war,  is  not  so  simple  as  it  would  seem  at  first  sight.  This 
was  not  always  perceived  by  most  of  the  men  and  women 
of  good  will  who  have  met  these  last  months  in  different 
countries  and  have  been  satisfied,  after  quick  and  short 
deliberations,  with  adopting  a  few  resolutions,  more  or 
less  impressive.  Such  attempts  are,  however,  interest- 
ing and  promising  by  their  multiplicity  and  by  the  some- 
times striking  similarity  of  the  propositions  supported. 

But  it  is  not  enough  to  frame  wishes  and  claims.  It  is 
necessary  to  vindicate  and  particularly  to  express  them 
in  definite  terms,  if  one  is  willing  to  exert,  on  those  who 
shall  be  intrusted  with  the  task  of  restoring  peace,  an  in- 
novating and  useful  influence. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  many  of  those  who  shall 
have  to  fulfill  the  mission  of  ending  the  war  and  of  pre- 
venting its  renewal  will  be  precisely  the  men  whose  inter- 
ference either  contributed  to  hasten  the  catastrophe, 
whose  dreadful  consequences  Europe  and  the  world  are 
now  experiencing,  or  was  unable  to  stop  it.  It  would  be 
a  gross  mistake  to  think  that  the  events  have  deeply  modi- 
fied their  minds  and  that  they  will  be  converted  into  de- 
spisers  of  the  past. 


2  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

It  is  only  under  the  overwhelming  pressure  of  a  uni- 
versal unanimous  public  opinion  that  they  will  decide  to 
consider  other  questions  than  those  directly  related  to 
the  present  war.  The  most  perspicacious  among  them 
are  preparing  to  support  the  status  quo  ante.  Such  a 
behavior  would  avoid  toilsome  and  ticklish  discussions 
and  make  no  change  in  the  traditional  course  of  events. 
Every  one,  the  killed  excepted,  would  go  home,  provided 
his  home  still  existed,  and  the  old  quarrels,  weakened  by 
the  sufferings  experienced,  would  be  stopped  for  a  time ; 
the  acquired  positions  would  be  maintained  and  new  wars 
prepared. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  such  a  solution — extorted  from 
the  weary  warriors,  from  the  afflicted  mothers  and  wives, 
from  distress  as  the  adviser  of  transactions  and  renounce- 
ments— would  settle  nothing,  would  plunge  the  world 
again  into  all  the  previous  uncertainties,  and  give  it  over 
to  the  occult  forces  which  caused  all  the  evils  out  of  whose 
grip  it  wants  to  escape  for  ever. 

2.  However,  to  attain  this  end,  it  is  necessary  that  those 
who  are  determined  to  stir  the  peoples  up  against  war  and 
against  the  criminals  who  dream  to  perpetuate  it,  not  only 
should  know  exactly  for  what  they  are  struggling  and 
what  they  can  claim,  but  also  should  adopt  similar  poli- 
cies. Now  policies  which  would  depart  completely  from 
what  was  previously  done  in  promoting  a  better  organiza- 
tion of  the  Society  of  States  would  be  most  piteous. 
What  is  needed  is  to  compel  the  States  to  follow  the  right 
road  on  which  they  had  entered,  and  not  to  allow  them  to 
cancel  the  concessions  made.  What  is  needed  is  to  stick 
to  the  calling  of  a  third  Peace  Conference  as  soon  as  peace 
preliminaries  shall  have  been  signed  by  the  belligerents. 

It  is  known  indeed  that  a  third  Peace  Conference  was 
to  have  been  summoned  in  1915  and  that  its  program  was 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  3 

discussed,  before  the  war  broke  out,  by  special  commis- 
sions appointed  by  various  governments.1  The  Inter- 
parliamentary Union  and  the  Universal  Peace  Congress 
had  both  considered  the  question,  and  it  seemed  to  be 
agreed  that  its  order  of  the  day  would  include  the  fram- 
ing of  the  organic  statutes  of  the  Peace  Conference  itself, 
the  definitive  constitution  of  an  International  Court  of 
Justice  and  the  extension  of  its  competency,  regulations 
respecting  aerial  navigation,  and  the  codification  of  in- 
ternational law. 

If  in  our  opinion  it  would  be  wise  to  connect  the  im- 
provements to  be  brought  about  in  the  relations  between 
States  with  the  convocation  of  the  third  Peace  Confer- 
ence, it  is  because  all  the  States,  in  that  case,  would  of 
course  be  invited  to  take  part  in  the  work,  and  no  motive 
could  be  alleged  for  discarding  some  of  the  results  al- 
ready attained. 

Unfortunately  it  was  argued  that  the  work  done  at 
The  Hague  was  to  be  considered  as  entirely  or  partly 
worthless.  There  is  no  doubt  that  all  the  dispositions 
adopted  for  regulation  of  the  game  of  war  appeared, 
thanks  to  the  reserve  of  military  necessity,  as  a  vain 
parade.  But  this  fact  was  long  foreseen  by  all  those  who 
had  no  interest  in  veiling  the  truth  and  adorning  opera- 
tions on  the  battlefield  with  a  knightly  and  humanitarian 
attire.  This  illusion  has  happily  and  finally  vanished 
and  war  is  now  in  everybody's  eyes  the  ugly  and  odious 
business  it  has  always  been.  But  if  the  work  done  at  The 
Hague  fortunately  failed  in  this  respect,  it  preserves  in 
its  constructive  aspect  a  primordial  importance. 

3.  It  is  not,  however,  on  this  ground  that  those  who 

i  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Belgium,  China,  Denmark,  United  States, 
Italy,  Japan,  Luxemburg,  Norway,  Netherlands,  Russia,  Sweden  and  Switzer- 
land. 


4  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

oppose  the  meeting  of  a  third  Peace  Conference  have  for 
the  most  part  stood.  In  their  opinion  new  groupings  of 
the  States,  different  from  that  realized  at  The  Hague 
in  1907,  should  be  advocated.  Some  propose  the  creation 
of  a  league  formed  by  Germany,  Austria-Hungary, 
France,  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Eussia,  the  United  States 
of  America,  Japan  and  the  civilized  States  of  Europe.2 
Others  would  group  the  neutral  States  and  not  wait  till 
the  war  comes  to  an  end  for  bringing  them  together.3 
Others  suggest  that  the  American  States  should  take  the 
initiative  toward  a  collective  organization  to  which  the 
other  States  would  be  invited  to  adhere.4  Yet  others 
think  that  the  neutral  States  should  be  ready  to  rally 
those  belligerent  States  willing  to  form  a  league  of  mu- 
tual guarantee.5  A  last  group  advocates  the  creation  of 
an  open  league  of  States  which  would  pledge  themselves 
to  enforce  peace  by  a  collective  economic  and  military 
coercion.6 

In  our  opinion,  the  idea  which  ought  to  dominate  is 
that  the  aim  to  be  attained  by  the  Society  of  States  is 
similar  to  that  which,  in  course  of  time,  each  State  has 
realized.  The  human  communities  for  centuries  allowed 
individual  recourse  to  force  for  the  redress  of  injuries 
and  injustice:  even  when  courts  were  organized,  such 
individual  recourse  was  maintained  and  often  regulated. 
But  after  some  centuries  those  communities  estimated 
that  such  a  procedure  had  an  unbearable  drawback  and 
they  compelled  their  citizens  to  give  up  judicial  duels 
and  private  wars  and  to  appeal  exclusively  to  judges. 
Between  States  the  recourse  to  force  is  at  present  al- 

2  Bryce's  proposition. 

s  Bignami's  proposition;  World  Peace  Foundation. 
*  Barrett's  proposition  ( Lake  Mohonk  Conference ) . 
s  John  B.  Clark's  proposition  (Lake  Mohonk  Conference). 
•League  to  Enforce  Peace,  founded  at  Philadelphia,  William  H.  Taft, 
president. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  5 

lowed  and  is  also  regulated,  although  an  arbitral  juris- 
diction exists  and  is  in  operation;  the  problem  for  the 
Society  of  States  is  to  doom  this  bloody  method  of 
settling  international  disputes  and  to  impose  submission 
to  an  international  judicatory.  Now  to  reach  this  aim  it 
is  essential  that  all  or  nearly  all  the  States  should  rally 
to  the  conception  of  an  international  public  order. 

The  most  secure  and  simple  way  is  obviously  to  develop 
what  was  done  at  the  Peace  Conferences  of  1899  and 
1907.  If  the  second  of  these  assemblies  adopted  schemes 
of  an  unquestionable  boldness,  the  cause  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  its  members  were  dele- 
gates of  States  constituted  in  a  democratic  form.  Such 
delegates  alone  will  exert  the  necessary  pressure  to 
counteract  the  influence  of  those  who  will  represent  in 
the  next  Conference  of  States  the  forces  of  reaction. 

And  particularly  we  should  not  forget  that  the  States 
which  assembled  in  1899  and  1907  are  bound  by  votes  and 
formal  declarations.  By  calling  upon  them  it  will  be 
possible  to  proceed  with  the  work  already  done  and  to 
progress  according  to  the  norms  of  a  gradual  evolution.7 
This  is  an  advantage  which  ought  to  be  taken  seriously 
into  account  and  which  must  have  a  decisive  importance 
for  all  those  who  know  the  persuasive  strength  of  prece- 
dents and  established  facts.  It  was  by  relying  largely 
upon  them,  as  we  will  show  in  the  following  chapters, 
that  we  have  drafted  the  articles  of  our  project. 

*  This  opinion  was  already  expressed,  as  far  back  as  1908  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  a  letter  submitting  the  conven- 
tions of  1907  for  consideration  by  the  Senate:  "The  achievements  of  the 
[Peace]  Conferences  justify  the  belief  that  the  world  has  entered  upon  an 
orderly  process  through  which,  step  by  step,  in  successive  Conferences,  each 
taking  the  work  of  its  predecessor  as  its  point  of  departure,  there  may  be 
continual  progress  toward  making  the  practice  of  civilized  nations  conform 
to  their  peaceful  professions." 

This  orderly  process  was  interrupted  by  the  present  war;  it  can  not  be 
stopped  by  it. 


6  THE  GKEAT  SOLUTION 

4.  It  is  now  necessary  to  give  some  explanation  of  the 
terminology  we  have  adopted.  Too  often,  in  schemes  for 
organization  of  the  Society  of  States,  the  attempt  is 
made  to  assimilate  this  organization  to  the  constitu- 
tional organization  of  most  States  and  use  has  been  made 
of  such  expressions  as  World  Confederation,  Interna- 
tional Federation,  United  States  of  the  World,  World 
Parliament,  International  Ministry,  World  Empire,  Uni- 
versal Republic.  A  World  State  will,  perhaps,  exist 
after  some  centuries.  What  is  needed  at  the  present 
time  is  to  create  institutions  adapted  to  a  given  situa- 
tion. The  adhesion  of  the  various  governments  can  be 
obtained  only  to  conventional  institutions  of  a  direct 
practical  character;  it  is  of  little  value  to  adorn  them 
with  names  which  can  only  give  rise  to  distressing  op- 
position, useless  misunderstandings  or  vain  hopes.  The 
natural  and  logical  growth  of  these  institutions  will 
reveal  their  defects  and  bring  about  the  necessary  modi- 
fications and  changes.  What  matters  most  is  to  establish 
agencies  which  can  easily  adapt  themselves  to  circum- 
stances and  contribute  to  their  own  improvement. 

We  have  also  cast  aside  the  often-used  word  Powers. 
This  term  alludes  too  directly  to  force  and  seems  to 
vindicate  the  theories  of  those  who  value  a  community  in 
proportion  to  the  strength  of  its  military  organization. 
This  is  a  fallacy  which  ought  to  be  removed  from  inter- 
national thought.  Nobody  cares  nowadays  for  the  num- 
ber of  soldiers  in  the  armies  of  Babylonia,  India,  Egypt, 
Greece,  Koine,  Italy  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies, Great  Britain  in  Elizabethan  times,  France  in 
1789.  Those  countries  remain  in  the  memory  of  men  for 
the  splendor  of  their  higher  civilization,  for  the  progress 
they  started  in  arts  and  sciences.  In  international  law 
the  technical  and  acknowledged  term  is  State,  and  we 
have  used  it  persistently  throughout  our  work;  we  hope 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  7 

that  all  jurists  will  adopt  this  opinion  and  will  aid,  as 
many  of  them  have  already,  in  making  this  word  prevail 
in  the  future.8 

5.  We  think  it  advisable  to  give  here  some  informa- 
tion about  the  subdivisions  of  the  pact  which  we  will 
analyze  in  detail  in  the  following  chapters.  A  summary 
of  those  subdivisions  is  as  follows : 

Preamble 
Preliminary  Title 

EIGHTS  AND   DUTIES   OF   THE   STATES. 

First  Title 

CONFERENCE   OF   STATES. 

Second  Title 

JUDICIARY   ORGANIZATION. 

Third  Title 

INTERNATIONAL   ADMINISTRATION. 

Fourth  Title 

GENERAL  AND  TRANSITORY  PROVISIONS. 

Complementary  Conventions 

We  deem  a  preamble  necessary  to  indicate  the  condi- 
tions under  which  the  representatives  of  the  States  will 
meet  after  the  great  war  and  under  the  influence  of  what 
ideas  their  deliberations  ought  to  be  pursued.  It  is  obvi- 
ous that  the  preoccupations  which  prevailed  at  the  time 

8  In  the  conventions  adopted  at  The  Hague  the  use  of  the  word  Powers 
prevailed.  Nevertheless  in  a  great  number  of  articles  the  word  States  was 
used,  namely  in  the  following  conventions: 

I.     International  Disputes,  Arts.  3,  §  1 ;  4,  8,  §§  2  and  3,  20,  25,  37. 
II.     Contract  Debts,  Art.  1,  §  2. 

III.     Customs  of  War,  Arts.  6,  §§  1  and  3;  8,  §  1;  14,  37,  48,  53,  55,  56. 
V.     Rights  and  Duties  of  Neutrals,  Art.  16. 
VII.     Conversion  of  Merchant  Ships,  Art.  1. 

X.     Maritime  Red  Cross,  Arts.  1,  15. 
XI.     Right  of  Capture,  Arts.  5,  6. 


8  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

of  the  two  first  Peace  Conferences  in  1899  and  1907  will 
be  profoundly  modified.  When  those  two  assemblies 
took  place,  the  delegates  tried  mainly  to  regulate  and 
humanize  warfare,  as  if  it  were  possible  to  humanize 
what  is  precisely  the  awakening  in  men  of  their  less 
humane  instincts,  those  of  the  primitive  animal  which 
survives  in  them,  which  all  civilization  has  aimed  to  con- 
trol and  overcome.  The  childishness  of  such  an  attempt 
is  proved  forever  without  possible  contest :  violated  neu- 
tralities, open  towns  bombarded,  women  and  children 
drowned  and  maimed,  monuments  of  art  destroyed,  the 
use  of  suffocating  and  injurious  gases,  peaceful  popula- 
tions abused  and  transferred  to  camps,  military  ex- 
tortions out  of  proportion  to  the  local  resources :  all  that 
the  diplomats  strove  to  prohibit  was  and  is  carried  out 
and  exceeded,  not  to  speak  of  the  dreadful  tools  em- 
ployed by  the  fighters,  which  are  the  cause  of  the  most 
horrid  and  hellish  torments. 

The  predominant  intention  will  be  to  regulate  at  last 
the  peaceable  relations  between  the  peoples.  They  will 
demand  this  with  eagerness,  and  the  diplomats  will  be 
obliged  to  yield  to  their  injunction.  It  will  no  longer  be 
enough,  as  in  1899  and  1907,  to  invoke  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances and  to  regret  their  powerlessness  and  the 
deficiency  of  the  adopted  solutions.  This  we  have  tried 
to  express  as  follows : 

Animated  by  the  ineradicable  and  steadfast  purpose  to 
avoid  the  renewal  of  the  slaughter  and  dismay  which  have 
just  staggered  the  world ; 

Decided  to  eliminate  all  appeal  to  war  from  international 
intercourse ; 

Anxious  to  form  a  more  close  and  perfect  union ; 

Determined  to  establish  the  empire  of  law  and  to  assure 
the  triumph  of  justice ; 

Resolved  to  provide  for  their  common  security  and  to  or- 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  9 

ganize  their  common  defense  against  all  perils  whatsoever, 
which  may  assail  or  menace  them ; 

Imbued  with  a  spirit  of  benevolence,  confidence,  loyalty 
and  frankness  which  ought  henceforth  to  preside  over  their 
relations ; 

Convinced  that  the  interest  of  each  of  them  is  to  promote 
the  general  welfare  of  the  people  and  to  secure  mutually 
their  inalienable  independence, 

The  following  States  have  appointed  as  their  plenipoten- 
tiaries .  .  .  who,  after  having  communicated  their  full  pow- 
ers, found  to  be  in  good  and  due  form,  have  agreed  upon  the 
following  provisions : 

It  will  be  noticed  that,  in  the  last  paragraph,  we  have 
modified  the  traditional  form  of  international  conven- 
tions by  which  the  chiefs  of  the  States,  and  not  the  States 
themselves,  are  the  parties  to  such  acts.9  This  fiction, 
which  allowed  an  emperor,  a  king  or  the  president  of  a 
republic  to  supersede,  in  the  treaties,  the  communities  of 
whom  they  are  only  the  first  magistrates,  ought  to  be 
dropped.  Louis  XIV  could  say:  "L'Etat,  c'est  moi!" 
Those  times  are  past;  the  peoples  are  governing  now. 
Plenipotentiaries  no  longer  represent  the  chiefs  of  the 
States ;  they  represent  the  peoples  and  it  matters  highly 
that  they  should  declare  it  when  they  negotiate  in  behalf 
of  the  peoples. 

Next  to  the  preamble  comes  a  preliminary  title  con- 
taining the  principles  and  rules  on  which  the  rights  and 
duties  of  the  States  are  based.  In  drafting  those  princi- 
ples and  rules,  whose  legitimacy,  as  we  will  establish,  has 
been  implicitly  or  expressly  acknowledged,  we  have  tried 
to  set  up  a  body  of  doctrine  to  serve  in  the  future  as  a 
guide  in  the  relations  of  the  States  with  each  other.  All 

•  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  Final  Act  of  both  Peace  Conferences 
the  States  were  referred  to  directly,  while  each  of  the  conventions  was 
worded  in  the  traditional  form. 


10  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

international  conventions  agreed  upon  in  the  future 
ought  to  be  inspired  by  them;  no  State  should  dare  to 
violate  their  injunctions.  It  will  be  necessary  for  them, 
in  drafting  the  complementary  conventions,  to  have  this 
very  seriously  in  mind  and  therefore  a  special  transitory 
provision  (Art.  70)  prescribes  that  the  principles  and 
rules,  whose  application  it  is  their  object  to  insure,  shall 
be  embodied  in  these  conventions. 

The  preliminary  title  is  followed  by  three  titles  de- 
voted to  the  essential  agencies  of  the  Society  of  States. 
It  will  be  noticed  that,  for  these  agencies,  no  completely 
new  institutions  are  suggested.  They  are  all  a  con- 
solidation, a  co-ordination  or  a  development  of  institu- 
tions already  realized  or  projected.  We  have  been  par- 
ticularly anxious  not  to  be  influenced  by  analogies  or 
similitudes.  If  there  exist  some  likeness  between  the 
organization  of  a  city,  a  province,  or  a  State,  each  of 
these  has  its  own  characteristics  and  it  cannot  be  said 
that  they  were  copied  one  from  another.  Therefore  it 
is  necessary  to  warn  those  who  try  to  draw  plans  of 
organization  for  the  Society  of  States  not  to  be  deluded 
by  hazardous  attempts  to  assimilate  one  organism  to 
another.  The  elements  of  a  world  organization  exist: 
it  is  wise  to  maintain  them  and  to  be  satisfied  if  we  can 
transform  them  and  adapt  them  to  the  new  conditions  in 
which  the  national  communities  are  at  present  placed. 
This  preoccupation  was  ours  and  we  think  therefore  that 
the  project  of  convention  we  have  prepared  is  the  nearest 
to  the  actual  state  of  things  and  the  possibilities  of  to- 
morrow. 

We  think  we  can  stop  here  our  general  observations 
about  the  plan  we  have  followed.  The  explanations 
given  in  the  following  chapters  will  furnish  to  the  reader 
the  opportunity  of  judging  whether  we  have  remained 
faithful  to  the  ideas  which  have  inspired  us  during  our 
toilsome  enterprise. 


CHAPTEE  II 
EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OP  STATES 

1.  AS  we  have  just  explained,  the  preliminary  title  of 
our  project  is  devoted  to  the  rights  and  duties  of  the 
States :  perhaps  it  might  have  been  more  accurate  to  say 
"the  duties  and  rights  of  the  States,"  for  the  three  first 
articles  in  fact  expound  what  we  consider  to  be  the  main 
and  essential  duties  of  States:  the  duty  to  contribute  to 
the  general  welfare  of  the  world,  the  duty  to  put  interna- 
tional solidarity  into  practice,  the  duty  to  respect  the 
rights  of  other  States.    They  could  be  summarized  in 
this  one  precept :  each  State  shall  act  toward  others  as  it 
desires  others  to  act  toward  itself.    It  can  be  said  that 
ignorance,  forgetfulness  or  disregard  of  this  precept,  in 
the  relations  between  States,  is  the  fundamental  cause  of 
all  international  misdeeds  and  crimes.    It  is  therefore  of 
the  greatest  importance  that,  if  not  the  precept  itself,  at 
least  its  most  direct  consequences  should  be  placed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  new  pact  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the 
States.    As   will  be   seen,   the   representatives   of   the 
States,  perhaps  without  grasping  the  full  importance  of 
what  they  did,  have  acknowledged  this  altruistic  concep- 
tion of  intercourse  between  States. 

2.  Up  to  a  recent  period,  the  politics  of  the  principal 
States  was  inspired  by  ideas  of  competition  and  struggle 
and  their  governments  contrived  to  enrich  their  own 
countrymen  at  the  expense  of  the  countrymen  of  other 

lands.     Mankind  was  regarded  by  them  as  subdivided 

11 


12  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

into  numerous  groups,  doomed  to  fight  one  another  in 
order  to  conquer  a  better  living  and,  in  order  to  survive, 
condemned  to  cause  the  ruin  and  the  destruction  of  their 
supposed  competitors. 

For  a  long  time,  however,  some  thinkers  have  got  rid 
of  such  conceptions,  perhaps  defensible  when  men,  in 
order  to  subsist,  were  obliged  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
natural  products  of  the  soil.  It  is  proved  now  that  the 
earth  can  feed  with  lavishness  a  much  larger  population 
than  now  exists,  and  that  exchanges  of  goods  are  all  the 
more  profitable  to  peoples  as  the  prosperity  of  each  of 
them  increases.  No  doubt  this  conviction  inspired  those 
who,  at  the  time  the  second  Peace  Conference  was  ending 
its  work,  tried  by  a  solemn  declaration  to  escape  the  de- 
served reproach  that  they  had  been  unable,  despite  the 
long  discussions  which  took  place  in  1899  and  1907, 
to  establish  even  partly  obligatory  arbitration.  This 
declaration,  unanimously  approved,  asserts:  "The 
powers  of  the  whole  world,  through  their  united  labors 
during  the  past  four  months,  have  not  only  learned  to 
understand  one  another  and  to  draw  closer  together,  but 
have  succeeded  in  the  course  of  their  long  collaboration 
in  evolving  a  lofty  conception  of  the  common  welfare  of 
humanity. ' ' * 

i  A  similar  declaration  was  made  previously  in  the  course  of  the  first 
Peace  Conference.  In  the  opening  address  given  by  M.  de  Staal,  we  read: 
"Now,  what  do  the  facts  show  us.  We  observe  between  the  nations  a 
community  of  material  and  moral  interests  which  is  constantly  growing. 
The  ties  which  unite  all  parts  of  the  great  human  family  become  tighter. 
Even  if  it  would,  a  nation  could  not  remain  isolated;  it  is  seized  as  in  a 
living  gearing,  fertile  in  benefits  for  all ;  it  forms  part  of  a  single  organism. 
Undoubtedly  rivalries  exist,  but  does  it  not  seem  that  they  now  relate  rather 
to  the  economic  realm,  the  realm  of  great  commercial  expansions  born  of  a 
similar  need  for  spreading  abroad  the  surplus  activity  which  does  not  find 
sufficient  employment  in  the  mother  country.  Such  a  rivalry,  so  under- 
stood, can  be  beneficial,  provided  that  the  idea  of  justice  and  the  lofty  feeling 
of  human  brotherhood  soar  above  it." 

M.  Le"on  Bourgeois  expressed  himself  as  follows:  "The  aim  of  civilization 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  13 

Whatever  was  the  real  thought  of  those  who  indorsed 
this  declaration,  it  declares  nevertheless  that  the  selfish 
tendencies  of  the  States  have  to  yield  to  the  common  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  number  of  States.  It  passed  condemna- 
tion in  advance  on  the  sacred  selfishness  upon  which  cer- 
tain politicians  thought  they  had  the  right  to  call;  it 
acknowledges  the  existence  of  superior  interests  which 
all  governments  are  compelled  to  respect. 

The  second  Peace  Conference  did  not  enumerate  those 
interests,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  them  out ;  they  are 
those  of  every  constituted  commonwealth:  security,  lib- 
erty, justice,  equality  before  the  law,  guaranty  and  re- 
spect of  rights  and  contracts.  For  their  acquisition  men 
have  struggled  within  human  communities.  To  insure 
them  to  each  of  these  communities  within  the  Society  of 
States,  the  governments  must  expend  their  best  efforts 
or  else  see  the  peoples  rise  against  them. 

We  deem  it  necessary  to  assert,  in  the  first  article  of 
our  project,  the  principle  included  in  the  declaration  we 
have  reprinted  above  and  which  the  States  cannot  refuse 
to  reassert  without  recanting  and  wofully  contradicting 
themselves.  Such  a  principle  ought  to  be  placed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  pact  organizing  the  Society  of  States, 
not  only  because  it  involves  the  ruling  idea  which  should 
henceforth  inspire  all  the  debates  of  the  representatives 
of  the  States,  but  because  it  will  be  the  link  between  the 
work  they  accomplished  in  1899  and  1907  and  the  new 
work  they  will  have  to  perform. 

i.  States  have  for  their  essential  mission  not  only  the  pro- 
motion of  the  wellbeing  of  their  own  citizens,  but  also  the 
furtherance  of  the  common  welfare  of  humanity.  They 
pledge  themselves  to  combine  and  co-ordinate  their  efforts 
to  attain  this  end. 

seems  to  us  to  place  more  and  more  above  the  struggle  for  life  between  men 
their  mutual  agreement  to  struggle  against  the  cruel  servitudes  of  matter." 


14  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

3.  The  second  article  we  suggest  is  drafted  as  follows : 

2.  The  States  are  united  in  fellowship.  They  must  aid 
one  another  and  are  under  the  obligation  to  guarantee  their 
mutual  security. 

This  provision  implies  a  second  principle,  the  principle 
of  human  unity;  the  States  are  bound  in  fellowship  be- 
cause they  are  the  constituent  parts  of  one  humanity. 
The  representatives  of  the  States,  in  the  preamble  of  the 
Convention  for  the  Pacific  Settlement  of  International 
Disputes,  in  1899  and  1907,  have,  in  proper  terms,  recog- 
nized "the  solidarity  uniting  the  members  of  the  society 
of  civilized  nations. ' '  2 

This  solidarity  is  especially  conspicuous  now  that  the 
great  war  is  going  on.  Its  economic  repercussions  have 
reached  the  peoples  farthest  away  from  the  seat  of  the 
struggle.  Some  of  their  industries  are  experiencing  a 
grave  crisis;  others  on  the  contrary  enjoy  an  unheard 
of,  but  transient  and  precarious,  prosperity;  the  situa- 
tion as  to  merchant  shipping  is  completely  overturned; 
the  credit  of  certain  neutral  countries  is  submitted  to  the 
severest  trials,  and  that  of  the  belligerent  nations  is 
threatened  with  a  complete  collapse;  emigration  to  the 
new  countries  is  virtually  suppressed.  As  for  the  more 

2  Prince  von  Bismarck,  when  the  African  Conference  met  at  Berlin  the  15th 
November,  1886,  in  his  presidential  speech,  alluded  to  it  in  expressing  his 
opinion  that  it  was  necessary  "to  apply  to  Africa,  in  a  form  adapted  to  that 
continent,  the  same  rule  [as  was  applied  to  the  countries  of  eastern  Asia] 
based  on  the  equality  of  rights  and  the  solidarity  of  the  interests  of  all  the 
trading  nations." 

M.  de  Nelidov,  in  his  address  at  the  closing  session  of  the  Peace  Con- 
ference of  1907,  made  a  similar  declaration:  "Nobody  would  deny  that  one 
of  the  main  guaranties  for  the  maintenance  of  pacific  intercourse  between 
the  peoples  is  the  more  intimate  knowledge  of  their  mutual  interests  and 
needs,  the  establishment  of  numerous  and  various  relations,  whose  network, 
every  day  more  extended,  ends  by  creating  between  them  a  moral  and 
material  solidarity,  more  and  more  opposed  to  all  warlike  enterprise." 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  15 

remote  consequences,  such  as  the  derangement  of  the 
financial  markets,  the  slackening  and  stagnation  of  pro- 
ductive labor  in  the  belligerent  countries  and  the  reaction 
of  these  conditions  on  the  economic  situation  of  the  neu- 
tral countries,  the  diminution  and  deterioration  of  the- 
working  classes,  the  monopoly  of  commercial  markets  by 
neutral  business,  who  can  estimate  their  extent!  The 
whole  world's  economic  structure  will  be  shaken  to  its 
foundations. 

That  such  disturbances  ought  to  be  avoided  and  that 
one  of  the  primary  duties  of  the  States  should  be  to 
guarantee  to  all  the  mutual  security  of  their  relations 
and  transactions,  no  one  would  dare  to  contest,  except 
the  few  privileged  persons  who  shall  have  picked  up  for- 
tunes in  the  mud  of  the  trenches  and  the  blood  of  the 
killed  and  wounded. 

But  solidarity  is  felt  in  the  case  of  other  calamities 
than  those  of  war;  no  people  can  enjoy  the  misfortune 
of  other  peoples  and  instinctively  they  are  impelled  to 
relieve  not  only  the  victims  of  war,  but  also  populations 
decimated  by  earthquakes,  epidemics,  fires  or  floods. 
And  it  is  to  be  foreseen  that  an  international  organiza- 
tion of  mutual  aid  will  be  created  by  the  States  to  per- 
form, more  completely,  regularly  and  equitably,  their 
collective  duty  of  solidarity.  For  the  fratricidal  prin- 
ciple of  struggle  for  life  ought  to  be  substituted,  in  the 
relations  between  States  as  between  individuals,  the 
principle  of  joint  action  for  life. 

4.  If  the  States  are  united  in  fellowship  and  have  to 
guarantee  their  mutual  security,  they  cannot  do  harm  to 
one  another,  for  they  would  thus  be  the  cause  of  their 
mutual  insecurity.  However  obvious  such  a  conclu- 
sion may  be,  it  seems  useful  to  express  it  in  formal 
terms: 


16  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

3.  In  the  exercise  of  their  rights,  States  cannot  do  injury 
to  the  rights  of  other  States. 

This  rule  which  is  at  the  basis  of  the  relations  between 
individuals  ought  to  regulate  the  relations  of  the  groups 
of  individuals  which  constitute  States.  Groups  of  indi- 
viduals cannot  exercise  their  accumulated  rights  other- 
wise than  they  would  exercise  them  separately,  for  then 
it  would  be  necessary  to  admit  that  men  are  allowed  as 
peoples  to  do  the  very  wrong  which,  as  individuals,  they 
are  prohibited  from  doing. 

One  of  the  most  direct  consequences  of  the  rule  here 
affirmed  is  that  there  exists  no  right  of  conquest.  This 
supposed  right,  which  in  the  past  was  the  cause  of  the 
most  crying  injustices  and  of  the  most  horrid  crimes,  has 
been  profoundly  mitigated;  it  tends  more  and  more, 
despite  the  inexpressible  abuses  to  which  it  has  given  rise 
even  in  the  course  of  this  century,  to  have  only  a  political 
import;  but,  even  so  reduced,  it  is  nevertheless  an  un- 
bearable injury  to  one  of  the  most  sacred  rights  of  the 
peoples,  namely,  to  dispose  freely  of  themselves. 

5.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  writings  on  interna- 
tional law  know  the  innumerable  definitions  given  of  the 
sovereignty,  autonomy  and  independence  of  States. 
Many  writers  have  tried  to  distinguish  between  these 
terms  but  have  only  obscured  the  idea  here  considered. 
We  deem  that  all  definition  in  this  matter  is  hazardous 
and  useless.  In  fact  these  terms  affirm  the  right  of 
human  communities  constituted  as  States  to  enjoy  the 
liberty  which  men  enjoy  within  those  communities.  This 
individual  liberty  is  only  limited  by  the  liberty  of  the 
other  individuals  living  in  the  same  community.  Within 
the  community  of  the  States  it  is  even  so.  Now,  if  within 
each  community,  the  State,  in  the  name  of  the  individuals 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  17 

composing  it,  has  the  duty  of  insuring  and  guaranteeing 
their  liberty,  within  the  Society  of  States  this  duty  is  the 
same.3  We  have  drafted  this  obligation  as  follows : 

4.  The  sovereignty,  autonomy  and  independence  of  States 
are  placed  under  their  collective  safeguard.  They  can  be 
restricted  only  to  the  extent  that  each  State  freely  agrees 
thereto. 

The  restriction  of  the  liberty  enjoyed  by  individuals 
within  a  State  is  the  result  of  their  assent,  directly  ex- 
pressed by  them  or  indirectly  given  by  their  representa- 
tives. The  restriction  of  the  sovereignty,  autonomy  and 
independence  of  the  States  ought  to  be  similarly  assented 
to.  The  only  difference,  and  it  is  obviously  an  important 
one,  is  that  within  the  States  the  consent  of  a  majority 
limits  the  liberty  of  the  minority  as  it  limits  its  own, 
while  consenting  States,  however  numerous  they  are,  can- 
not restrict  the  sovereignty,  autonomy  and  independence 
of  the  dissenting  States. 

Nevertheless  all  the  States  yield,  in  fact,  to  the  limita- 
tions which  are  likely  to  be  beneficial  to  their  citizens. 
This  was  specifically  the  case  for  the  rules  which  govern 
the  vast  agencies  of  transportation :  post,  telegraph,  tele- 

s  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  principle  here  advocated  is  in  fact  an 
application  to  the  whole  world  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  To  show  how  exact 
this  affirmation  is,  we  reproduce  in  proper  terms  the  main  part  of  the 
declaration  made  in  1823  by  President  James  Monroe,  leaving  out  one  word 
only,  placed  here  between  brackets:  "But  with  the  governments,  who  have 
declared  their  independence  and  maintained  it,  and  whose  independence 
we  have  on  great  consideration  and  on  just  principles  acknowledged,  we 
could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them  or 
controlling  in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  [European]  power, 
in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  to- 
ward the  United  States." 

It  is  obvious  that  such  a  declaration  could  be  made  by  each  of  the  States 
signatory  of  the  Magnissima  Hi  art  a.  But  we  are  of  opinion  that  it  should 
be  made  by  all  the  States  at  once. 


18  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

phone,  maritime  navigation,  railroads,  automobile.  The 
same  thing  happened  in  respect  to  maritime  law,  commer- 
cial drafts  and  checks,  patents,  trade-marks,  copyright, 
international  private  law.  If  some  States  neglect  to  ad- 
here to  the  existing  conventions  but  apply  their  pro- 
visions, if  other  States  leave  to  the  contracting  States 
the  burden  of  some  institutions  of  world-wide  interest, 
universal  public  opinion  will  soon  blame  them  therefor 
and  compel  them  to  collaborate  in  these  collective  en- 
deavors. The  provision  relating  to  the  elaboration  of  an 
International  Budget  (Art.  62)  takes  into  account  the 
necessity  of  such  a  universal  collaboration. 

6.  It  can  be  said  without  fearing  contradiction  that  the 
principle  of  nationalities  dominated  the  whole  history 
of  the  last  century  and  of  the  beginning  of  the  present 
one.  The  deliverance  of  Greece,  the  constitution  of 
Belgium,  the  resurrection  of  Italy,  the  unification  of 
Germany,  the  liberation  of  Rumania,  Bulgaria,  Serbia, 
Montenegro  were  all  realized  in  behalf  of  the  right  of 
the  peoples  to  dispose  freely  of  themselves.  This  right 
is  the  essential  element  of  sovereignty,  autonomy  and 
independence.  It  presided  over  the  formation  of  the 
United  States  of  America  and  of  the  republics  of  Latin 
America,  it  gave  an  autonomous  government  to  the  Do- 
minion of  Canada,  to  South  Africa,  Australia,  New  Zea- 
land. The  injuries  done  to  this  right  have  largely  given 
to  the  greatest  war  its  tragic  character,  for  it  is  precisely 
Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  and  Turkey  that  keep  under 
their  yokes  the  larger  number  of  peoples  anxious  to  live 
their  own  life  or  to  resume  a  common  life  with  peoples 
from  which  they  are  separated.  Poland,  Bohemia,  Fin- 
land, Schleswig,  Alsace-Lorraine,  Bosnia,  Herzegovina, 
Trentino,  Triest,  Croatia,  Transylvania,  Armenia,  are  so 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  19 

many  enslaved  peoples  who  ask  for  a  liberty  already  im- 
parted to  other  peoples.4 

At  the  next  Conference  of  States,  27  out  of  46  will  be 
able  to  be  represented  only  by  the  fact  that  the  principle 
here  proclaimed  was  applied  in  their  favor;  and  among 
the  States,  which  did  not  have  to  lay  claim  to  it,  eight  at 
least — France,  Great  Britain,  Netherlands,  Denmark, 
Sweden,  Norway,  Luxemburg  and  Portugal — will  dis- 
play tendencies  about  which  no  doubt  is  conceivable. 
Their  adhesion  to  the  provision,  embodied  in  the  follow- 
ing article,  is  assured  in  advance : 

5.  The  peoples  have  the  inalienable  and  imprescriptible 
right  to  dispose  freely  of  themselves.  No  annexations  or 
transfers  of  territories  can  take  place  without  the  consent  of 
their  populations. 

7.  There  are,  however,  transitory  situations  for  which 
certain  exceptions  can  be  admitted  to  the  rigid  applica- 
tion of  the  principle  formulated  above.  There  still  exist 
peoples  which  are  in  a  state  of  minority  or  of  relative 
incapacity,  due  to  involuntary  circumstances. 

They  are  the  backward  peoples,  the  peoples  who  lack 
education  and  initiation  to  world  civilization.  Toward 
them  the  Society  of  States  has  a  duty  of  collective  guard- 
ianship, and  the  States  which  have  the  charge  of  this 
guardianship  ought  to  be  considered  as  responsible 

*  When  the  Berlin  Congress  met  in  1878,  Prince  Gortchakov,  in  behalf  of 
the  request  introduced  by  Greece  to  participate  in  the  debates  which  could 
interest  Greek  populations,  uttered  the  following  observations:  "As  to  the 
territories  occupied  by  various  races  and  of  interest  to  the  Hellenic  race 
which  is  to  be  protected,  it  seems  that  they  cannot  be  fixed  by  a  principle 
more  rational,  more  equitable  and  more  practical  than  that  of  the  majority 
of  the  population.  This  principle  results  from  the  provisions  adopted  by  the 
Conference  of  Constantinople  and  laid  down  by  the  Preliminary  Treaty  of 
San  Stefano." 


20  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

proxies  for  the  human  community.  This  notion  may 
seem  a  new  one,  but  it  is  implicitly  included  in  the  pro- 
visions of  the  General  Act  of  the  African  Conference  of 
the  26th  February,  1885.5 

But  there  are  obviously  many  degrees  of  incapacity  in 
such  groups  of  population  and  some  of  them  could,  in 
suitable  measure,  take  part  in  the  administration  of  their 
own  interests ;  it  would  even  be  useful,  in  order  to  further 
their  development  and  education,  to  associate  them,  what- 
ever the  state  of  their  civilization,  in  the  management  of 
their  communities.  It  will  be  necessary  to  determine  by 
a  special  agreement  the  conditions  under  which  these 
diversified  guardianships  should  be  established  and  suc- 
cessively modified  in  order  to  lead  the  backward  popula- 
tions of  the  globe  from  a  state  of  minority,  by  the  stages 
of  a  progressive  emancipation,  to  a  full  autonomy. 

We  have  tried  in  two  separate  articles  to  fix  the  prin- 
ciples which  ought  to  prevail  in  these  matters  and  to 
define  the  situation  of  each  of  the  States  which  has 
assumed  the  task  of  preparing  the  minor  populations  to 
collaborate  on  their  part  for  the  common  welfare  of 
humanity. 

6.  The  minor  populations  are  placed  under  the  collective 
protection  of  the  States.  The  territories  which  they  inhabit 
are  administered  in  favor  of  the  natives  and  in  order  to 
secure  the  full  moral  and  material  development  of  the  na- 
tives. 

s  Prince  von  Bismarck  on  this  occasion  said :  "When  it  summoned  this 
Conference,  the  Imperial  Government  was  guided  by  the  conviction  that  all 
the  invited  Governments  share  in  the  desire  to  assimilate  the  natives  of 
Africa  to  civilization  by  opening  to  commerce  the  interior  of  that  con- 
tinent, by  giving  to  its  inhabitants  the  means  of  educating  themselves,  by 
encouraging  missions  and  enterprises  spreading  useful  knowledge  and  by 
preparing  the  suppression  of  slavery,  especially  of  the  slave  trade,  whose 
gradual  abolition  was  proclaimed  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  in  1815  as  a 
sacred  duty  of  all  the  Powers." 


21 

7.  The  colonies  properly  so  called  and  the  protectorates 
are  presumed  to  have  been  established  with  the  consent  of 
the  States,  and  their  administration  constitutes  a  collective 
delegation  given  to  their  respective  metropoles. 

8.  Two  States,  Switzerland  and  Belgium,  have  given  to 
the  question  of  the  rights  of  populations  in  polyethnic 
countries  a  practical  solution  which  should  be  applied 
elsewhere.  The  populations  which  are  unable  (on  ac- 
count of  their  small  density  or  of  their  dispersion  among 
populations  of  various  nationalities)  or  which  do  not 
wish  to  form  an  independent  State  ought  nevertheless  to 
enjoy  essential  liberties,  namely,  of  being  their  own 
rulers  within  the  limits  of  the  localities  they  inhabit,  of 
speaking  their  own  language  and  of  practicing  their  own 
religion.6 

It  is  needless  to  insist  at  length  on  the  moral  and  ma- 

«  The  treaty  of  Berlin  of  1878  contains  no  less  than  five  articles  (5,  27,  35, 
44  and  62),  relating  to  religious  liberty  in  Bulgaria,  Montenegro,  Serbia, 
Rumania  and  the  Ottoman  Empire  and  framed  in  the  following  similar 
terms:  "The  difference  of  religious  creeds  and  confessions  shall  not  be 
alleged  against  any  person  as  a  ground  for  exclusion  or  incapacity  in  matters 
relating  to  the  enjoyment  of  civil  and  political  rights,  the  admission  to 
public  employment,  functions  and  honors,  or  the  exercise  of  the  various  pro- 
fessions and  industries  .  .  .  The  freedom  and  outward  exercise  of  all  forms 

of  worship  are  assured  to  all  the  citizens  of  as  well  as  to  foreigners, 

and  no  hindrance  shall  be  offered  either  to  the  hierarchical  organization  of 
the  different  communions  or  to  their  relations  with  their  spiritual  chiefs." 

In  the  General  Act  of  the  African  Conference  of  1885,  article  6,  section  3, 
was  also  devoted  to  this  question:  "Liberty  of  conscience  and  religious 
toleration  are  expressly  guaranteed  to  the  natives  as  to  nationals  and 
foreigners.  The  free  and  public  exercise  of  all  forms  of  worship,  the  right 
to  erect  religious  edifices  and  to  organize  missions  belonging  to  all  forms 
of  worship  shall  not  be  subjected  to  any  restriction  nor  hindrance." 

As  for  the  right  of  the  populations  to  take  part  in  the  local  administra- 
tion, application  of  this  right  to  the  Ottoman  Empire  was  made  in  article  23 
of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  of  1878,  where  it  is  said  that  "laws  adapted  to  local 
requirements  shall  also  be  introduced  into  the  other  parts  of  European 
Turkey  for  which  no  special  organization  has  been  provided  in  the  present 
treaty,"  and  that  "the  Sublime  Porte  shall  depute  special  Commissions,  in 


22  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

terial  tortures  inflicted  on  certain  populations  by  govern- 
ments which  claim  to  be  civilized;  such  populations  must 
have  the  means  to  appeal  against  the  injustices  which 
they  would  have  to  bear  and  a  formal  statute  ought  to  be 
granted  to  them.  It  will  be  the  aim  of  a  complementary 
convention  to  determine  how  such  a  guaranty  will  be 
rendered  effective.  But  it  is  nevertheless  necessary  that 
the  principle  should  be  proclaimed  in  a  positive  form,  as 
in  the  following  article : 

8.  In  polyethnic  States  the  right  of  the  minorities  to  take 
part  in  the  administration  of  the  localities  they  inhabit,  to 
practice  their  religion  and  to  use  their  national  language  is 
formally  guaranteed. 

9.  The  States  have  not  only  the  duty  of  establishing  in- 
ternational guardianships;  they  have  also  the  duty  of 
placing  under  an  international  trusteeship  States  which 
infringe  morals,  equity  and  right.  The  States  have 
already  and  repeatedly  taken  such  measures,  especially 
in  order  to  safeguard  the  pecuniary  interests  of  their 
citizens.  The  international  management  of  the  finances 
of  Greece,  Turkey  and  Egypt  furnishes  well-known  ex- 
amples. The  principle  of  a  concerted  supervision  was 
consecrated,  if  not  applied,  in  the  case  of  Armenia.7  The 
situation  in  which  Mexico  has  just  been  placed  justified 

which  the  native  element  shall  "be  largely  represented,,  to  settle  the  details 
of  the  new  laws  in  each  province." 

Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  France,  Great  Britain,  Russia  and  Turkey 
have  ratified  both  conventions.  Belgium,  Denmark,  Spain,  United  States  of 
America,  Italy,  Netherlands,  Portugal,  Sweden  and  Norway  have  also 
ratified  the  second. 

7  Article  61  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  of  26th  June,  1878,  stipulates: 
"The  Sublime  Porte  undertakes  to  carry  out,  without  further  delay,  the 
improvements  and  reforms  demanded  by  local  requirements  in  the  provinces 
inhabited  by  the  Armenians,  and  to  guarantee  their  security  against  the 
Circassians  and  Kurds.  It  will  periodically  make  known  the  steps  taken 
to  this  effect,  to  the  Powers  who  will  supervise  their  application." 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  23 

collective  action,  and  the  United  States  of  America  took 
the  initiative  toward  such  an  action  along  with  Argen- 
tina, Brazil  and  Chile  and  three  other  Latin-American 
States.  It  is  obvious  that  we  do  not  consider  as  legiti- 
mate the  numerous  interventions  which,  under  various 
pretenses,  took  place  during  the  centuries  and  even  dur- 
ing these  last  years  and  which,  humanitarian  in  appear- 
ance, concealed  the  most  sordid  preoccupations.  We 
think  that  the  articles  devoted  to  this  question  are  self- 
explanatory  : 

9.  States  have  the  right  to  protest  separately  or  collec- 
tively against  acts  done  by  one  of  them,  infringing  morals, 
equity  and  right,  and  to  suggest  or  take  measures  deemed 
useful  to  put  an  end  to  these  acts. 

10.  The  States  have  the  special  right  of  accrediting  col- 
lectively a  Council  of  Management  near  the  State  which 
causes  prejudice  to  the  citizens  of  other  States  by  defective 
administration  of  its  finances,  which  permits  or  organizes 
the  slaughter  of  its  own  citizens,  or  which,  by  its  incapacity 
to  maintain  order,  endangers  the  lives  and  legitimate  prop- 
erty of  foreigners. 

10.  After  having  established  the  principles  which 
ought  to  determine  how  populations  scattered  all  over 
the  earth  should  be  managed,  it  remains  to  determine 
what  use  these  populations,  grouped  in  States,  may  make 
of  the  globe,  continents  and  seas. 

The  terrestrial  globe  constitutes  a  vast  reservoir  of 
the  products  intended  to  supply  the  wants  of  men,  and 
this  reservoir  can  be  considered  as  inexhaustible,  if  ex- 
ception is  made  of  some  scarce  and  little  consumed 
products.  It  is  by  the  exchange  of  products  without 
hindrance  and  the  most  complete  freedom  of  circulation 
that  the  satisfaction  of  the  needs  of  men  can  be  best 
realized. 


24  THE  GEEAT  SOLUTION 

If  no  barriers  existed  between  the  countries,  they 
would  form  so  many  provinces  of  a  large  republic  and 
their  citizens,  manufacturers  and  consumers  would  be 
submitted  to  no  dearth. 

Consequently  it  is  most  important  that  the  States 
should  put  an  end  to  all  monopolies  and  privileges,  if 
really,  as  they  unanimously  declared  in  1907,  they  have 
acquired  a  lofty  conception  of  the  common  welfare  of 
humanity.  The  Society  of  States  should  declare  and 
promote  all  measures  capable  of  procuring  to  all  men 
the  possibility  of  purchasing  all  the  products  they  need 
and  the  right  to  work  them  up  for  the  greatest  advantage 
of  all  humanity.  This  is  what  we  have  tried  to  express 
in  the  following  text: 

ii.  The  exploitation  of  the  globe  is  managed  by  the  States 
in  the  collective  interest  of  men,  and  so  as  to  facilitate  and 
develop  to  the  utmost  the  exchange  of  raw  materials  and  of 
manufactured  products. 

Of  course  the  Society  of  States  could  decide  on  the 
creation  by  itself  of  international  official  services  for  the 
working,  manufacturing  and  circulation  of  certain  prod- 
ucts, such  as  arms  and  munitions,  for  the  extraction  of 
rare  ores  (radium,  palladium,  platinum),  for  the  supply- 
ing of  ships  with  coal  and  oil.  The  States  will  have  to 
consider  whether  the  collective  interest  of  men  demands 
the  creation  of  such  services  or  whether  it  is  better  to 
intrust  their  organization  and  direction  to  private  ini- 
tiative. 

11.  Connected  with  the  problem  of  the  best  manage- 
ment of  the  globe  is  the  question,  so  disputed  in  the  past, 
of  the  freedom  of  the  seas ;  in  fact  it  has  been  settled  long 
since  and  it  seems  almost  needless  to  proclaim  it  anew 
in  a  formal  text.  But  maritime  navigation  has  increased 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  25 

so  much  and  will  grow  to  such  proportions  in  the  near 
future  that  it  seems  useful  that  the  States  should  pledge 
themselves  to  enforce  the  observance  of  precise  rules  by 
the  sailors  and  to  defray  the  cost  of  a  collective  policing 
of  the  seas.  Indeed  this  is  already  the  case  and  the 
conventions  of  Washington  (1889.12.31)  and  London 
(1914.01.20)  have  to  a  large  extent  regulated  maritime 

navigation. 

\ 

12.  The  sea  is  free  and  open  without  hindrance  to  the  navi- 
gation of  all  peoples.  It  is  placed  under  the  collective  super- 
vision of  the  States  which  assume  the  charge  of  guarantee- 
ing at  a  common  expense  the  security  of  passenger  and 
freight  traffic  and  of  looking  after  the  observance  by  marines 
of  uniform  regulations. 

The  discussion  entered  upon  recently  about  the  free- 
dom of  the  seas  has  for  its  main  subject  the  right  of  neu- 
trals to  trade  freely  with  belligerents  and  the  interdiction 
to  be  imposed  upon  the  latter  of  fighting  any  naval  battle 
in  neutral  territorial  waters.  These  are  pious  wishes. 
The  great  war  has  shown  once  more  that  hostilities  can- 
not be  either  regulated  or  humanized.  Military  neces- 
sity vindicates  all  crimes  and  attempts ;  war  in  fact  trans- 
forms peoples  into  criminals,  and  the  Society  of  States 
must  consider  them  as  such  and  act  accordingly,  but  this 
question  will  be  discussed  later.  The  problem  of  the 
freedom  of  the  seas  here  contemplated  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  situation  growing  out  of  a  state  of  war;  it 
concerns  only  the  peaceful  relations  between  States. 

But  this  problem  is  not  the  only  one  to  be  faced;  the 
problem  of  the  free  access  to  rivers  and  maritime  canals 
is  at  least  equally  important.  We  think  therefore  that 
it  is  necessary  to  enlarge  the  provision  concerning  the 
freedom  of  the  seas  and  to  extend  it  to  all  waterways. 
It  is  known  that  the  international  rivers,  those  which 


26  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

cross  or  border  the  territories  of  several  States,  and  the 
interoceanic  canals  of  Suez  and  Panama  are  placed  under 
special  conventional  regulations.  In  our  opinion  all 
waterways  uniting  or  flowing  into  seas  should  be  ac- 
cessible to  ships  of  all  nations  without  discrimination, 
subject  only  to  the  condition  of  paying  the  same  taxes 
for  appropriation  and  maintenance.8 

13.  All  waterways  of  whatever  kind,  accessible  to  sea- 
going vessels,  are  open  without  exception  to  the  free  naviga- 
tion of  all  the  peoples. 

12.  The  most  obnoxious  impediment,  however,  to  the 
free  circulation  of  raw  and  wrought  products,  and  conse- 
quently of  men,  is  the  gathering  of  prohibitive  and  pro- 
tective taxes.  The  customs,  more  than  distances,  moun- 
tains and  oceans,  have  kept  the  peoples  aloof  and  given 
birth  to  feelings  of  hatred  and  anger  between  the  States. 
It  is  chiefly  the  colonial  customs  system  which  has  been 
the  cause  of  the  most  vivid  recriminations  and  which  has 
incited  all  the  industrial  and  exporting  States  to  rush 

s  In  fact  such  a  provision  would  be  a  generalization  of  what  is  already 
applied  to  some  waterways.  Prince  von  Bismarck  in  1885,  in  the  course  of 
the  Berlin  Conference,  declared  that  "the  German  Government  would  be  will- 
ing to  acquiesce  in  a  proposition  tending  to  settle  the  question  of  freedom 
of  navigation  on  all  the  rivers  of  Africa." 

It  should  be  noticed  that  this  rule  is  now  applied  to  all  the  waterways 
which,  besides  the  Congo,  reach  the  littoral  included  in  the  Conventional 
Basin :  "All  flags,  without  distinction  of  nationality,  shall  have  free  access 
to  all  the  littoral  of  the  territories  above  enumerated,  to  the  rivers  which 
there  empty  into  the  sea,  to  all  the  waters  of  the  Congo  and  its  affluents 
including  the  lakes,  to  all  the  ports  situated  upon  the  borders  of  these 
waters,  as  well  as  to  all  the  canals  which  may  in  the  future  be  excavated 
with  the  object  of  connecting  together  the  water  courses  or  lakes  com- 
prised in  the  whole  extent  of  the  territories  described  in  Article  1.  They 
may  undertake  every  kind  of  transport  and  exercise  the  coastwise  naviga- 
tion by  sea  and  river  as  also  small  boat  transportation  upon  the  same  foot- 
ing as  the  allegiants." 


27 

upon  Africa  with  a  wild  eagerness.9  To  meet  the  com- 
plaints made,  various  measures  were  proposed,  particu- 
larly the  internationalization  of  the  colonies;  but  we 
think  that  it  would  be  sufficient  to  grant  to  the  citizens  of 
all  States  and  to  their  products  a  free  access  to  all 
colonies. 

If  colonial  administrations  require  that  they  should  be 
allowed  to  raise  duties  in  order  to  run  the  public  services, 
no  one  would  oppose,  on  condition  that  such  duties  were 
applied  to  all  goods  imported  or  exported,  without  dis- 
crimination between  those  belonging  to  the  citizens  of 
the  metropolis  and  to  the  citizens  of  other  States.10 

14.  The  territories  of  all  colonies  shall  be  open,  without 
differential  treatment,  to  the  commerce  of  all  nations.  The 
only  taxes  to  be  paid  shall  be  raised  to  compensate  expenses 
useful  to  the  traffic. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  true  appeasement,  from  an  eco- 
nomic point  of  view,  will  only  become  possible  on  the 
day  when  the  principle  of  free  trade  shall  be  universally 
adopted.  What  the  Zollverein  did  to  unite  Germany, 
without  serious  injury  to  the  citizens  of  the  former 
customs  subdivisions  of  that  country,  an  International 

» The  African  Conference  of  Berlin  in  1885  opened  the  Conventional 
Basin  of  the  Congo  and  its  tributaries  (72,000  square  leagues  or  650,000 
square  miles)  to  the  commerce  of  the  whole  world.  Prince  von  Bismarck 
declared  on  this  occasion  that,  in  his  opinion,  it  would  be  desirable  that 
merchandise  intended  for  the  interior  should  be  free  of  transit  dues  along 
the  whole  littoral  of  Africa. 

i°  This  was  the  rule  adopted  for  the  Conventional  Basin  of  the  Congo  in 
an  article  drafted  as  follows  "Merchandise  of  every  origin  imported  into 
these  territories,  under  whatever  flag  it  may  be,  by  route  of  sea  or  river 
or  land,  shall  have  to  discharge  no  other  taxes  than  those  which  may  be 
collected  as  an  equitable  compensation  for  expenses  useful  to  commerce  and 
which,  under  this  head,  must  be  equally  borne  by  the  allegiants  and  by 
strangers  of  every  nationality.  All  differential  treatment  is  prohibited  in 
respect  to  ships  as  well  as  merchandise." 


28  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

Customs  Union  would  do  for  the  Society  of  States. 
Among  all  the  questions  which  will  be  discussed  when  the 
war  is  over  none  will  have  so  great  and  decisive  an  im- 
portance. We  are  of  opinion,  therefore,  that  the  States 
should  pledge  themselves  to  enter  on  this  course.  An 
article,  drafted  in  the  following  terms,  would  respond  to 
this  desire: 

15.  Custom  duties  can  have  only  a  fiscal  and  transitory 
character.  The  States  will  endeavor  to  set  up  a  customs 
union,  preparatory  to  the  adoption  of  free  trade. 

13.  After  having  set  down  the  principles  which  should 
prevail  in  regard  to  peoples  and  things,  it  is  necessary  to 
establish  those  which  ought  to  regulate  relations  between 
the  States  as  such.  Are  those  right  who  maintain  that 
necessity  and  force  alone  preside  over  these  relations 
and  that  all  the  homage  done  to  the  law,  by  those  who 
direct  the  destinies  of  the  States,  is  only  a  dilatory  and 
hypocritical  means,  intended  to  gain  time  till  the  hour 
is  propitious  for  victories  with  the  mailed  fist? 

To  these  allegations,  which  have  poisoned  the  inter- 
national life  of  the  peoples,  should  be  opposed  principles 
of  order  and  justice.  It  is  untrue  that  necessity  knows 
no  law,  it  is  untrue  that  might  is  right,  it  is  still  more 
untrue  that  might  creates  right.  Recourse  to  force  has, 
in  the  course  of  history,  generated  recourse  to  force. 
Sometimes  force  was  a  defender  of  right,  of  disregarded 
and  oppressed  right,  but  right  has  always  at  last -over- 
powered force. 

Force  has  been  eliminated  from  the  relations  between 
individuals;  inside  the  civilized  States,  force  is  the  hand 
maiden  of  right  and  its  action  is  preventive  and  re- 
parative.  What  force  is  between  individuals,  it  ought 
to  become  between  the  groups  of  individuals  which  form 


BIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  29 

the  States.  It  is  inconceivable  that  human  communities 
could  possess  the  odious  privilege  of  committing,  in  mag- 
nified proportions,  crimes  which  are  forbidden  under  the 
severest  penalties  to  the  men  who  compose  these  com- 
munities, crimes  for  whose  repression  they  give  one 
another  a  mutual  aid.  A  crime  remains  a  crime,  whether 
committed  by  one  man  or  by  a  mob.  From  the  criminal 
humanity  which  survives  in  us  as  a  legacy  from  the  ages 
of  bestiality  and  brutality,  we  appeal  to  a  humanity  de- 
livered from  atavisms  and  legends.  For  centuries  the 
tragic  drama  of  the  conflict  between  our  instincts  and  our 
ideals  has  gone  on.  Slowly  men  have  adapted  them- 
selves to  the  conditions  of  a  more  brotherly  life,  and  love 
for  the  neighbor  has  superseded  hatred  of  the  foreigner. 
The  use  of  the  fist  was  superseded  by  the  use  of  the  con- 
tract, and  the  use  of  the  solemn  contract,  surrounded  by 
objurgations  and  threats,  by  a  simple  plighted  word.  To 
strict  right  equity  was  added,  to  equity  morality,  the 
accepted  duty  to  compulsory  duty.  And  some  would 
ignore  and  deny  such  an  evolution  and  limit  it  by  the 
frontiers  of  the  States.  States  are  indeed  communicat- 
ing vessels ;  by  river,  by  highway,  by  railroad,  by  the  air 
and  by  the  sea,  by  the  unseen  vibrations  of  the  ether  they 
react  one  on  another;  osmosis  is  perhaps  more  an  intel- 
lectual than  a  physical  phenomenon.  All  international 
life  is  a  protest  against  those  who  believe  that,  thanks  to 
languages  and  customs,  there  are  insuperable  barriers 
between  peoples.  Countless  contracts  have  been  entered 
into  by  the  States  and  have  been  kept,  despite  allegations 
to  the  contrary.  The  States  have  in  fact  acknowledged 
the  rule  of  right,  equity  and  morals,  and  even  those  that 
have  disregarded  their  injunctions  appeal  to  them  to 
justify  their  misbehavior.  How  could  they  decline,  with- 
out falling  to  the  level  of  bandits  or  pirates,  to  assent  to 
the  following  article! 


30  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

1 6.  Relations  between  the  States  are  controlled  by  the 
same  principles  of  right,  equity  and  morals  as  those  which 
control  relations  between  individuals. 

14.  The  right  which  rules  the  peoples  is  mainly  a  con- 
ventional right.  This  right  ought  in  the  future  to  be 
rigorously  respected.  Many  indeed  consider  treaties  as 
"the  temporary  expression  of  fortuitous  and  transitory 
relations  between  the  various  national  forces."  They 
infer  from  this  opinion  that  the  respect  due  to  treaties  is 
measured  by  the  force  at  their  command  to  back  their 
violation.  To  these  bold  affirmations,  hardly  admissible 
on  the  lips  of  a  Tamerlane  or  a  Napoleon,  ought  to  be 
opposed  the  principle  that  freely  accepted  contracts  con- 
stitute law  between  parties,  who  can  only  depart  from 
it  by  a  common  agreement.  Respect  for  treaties  is 
sacred. 

This  was  solemnly  acknowledged  when  the  treaty  of 
London  of  the  13th  March,  1871,  was  signed  after  the  de- 
nunciation by  Russia  of  Articles  11,  13  and  14  of  the 
treaty  of  Paris  of  30th  March,  1856.  In  one  of  the 
protocols  one  can  read :  * '  The  plenipotentiaries  of  North 
Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Russia 
and  Turkey,  assembled  to-day  in  conference,  acknowledge 
as  an  essential  principle  of  international  law  that  no 
power  can  free  itself  from  the  obligations  of  a  treaty 
without  the  assent  of  the  contracting  parties  obtained  by 
a  friendly  agreement."  This  is  called  the  compulsory 
force  of  treaties  which  we  have  formulated  as  follows : 

17.  Conventions  freely  concluded  between  States  are  bind- 
ing upon  them  as  long  as  they  are  in  force.    They  may  be 
broken,  except  through  an  express  clause  to  the  contrary, 
only  by  the  consent  of  all  the  signatories. 

It  is  objected  to  the  strict  application  of  this  principle 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  31 

that  some  treaties,  and  especially  most  of  the  treaties  of 
peace,  were  imposed  on  one  of  the  parties  at  least,  and 
consequently  are  essentially  void  on  account  of  not 
having  been  freely  agreed.  This  objection,  in  our  opin- 
ion, is  fully  justified  and  we  cannot  adhere  to  the  adage : 
Coactus  voluit,  voluit  tamen. 

But  we  think  that  the  voidness  of  such  a  treaty  ought 
to  be  established  by  judicial  methods  and  that  recourse 
ought  to  be  open  to  the  injured  party.  We  are  also  of 
opinion  that  there  should  be  a  similar  recourse  against 
every  treaty  whose  clauses,  in  consequence  of  new  cir- 
cumstances, became  burdensome  or  frustatory  to  one  of 
the  contracting  States.  The  recourse  to  war  can  no 
longer  be  vindicated  when  an  international  judicatory, 
sufficiently  adaptable  and  impartial,  guarantees  to  all  the 
States  the  consecration  of  their  right. 

15.  While  there  existed  neither  a  judiciary  nor  a  con- 
ciliatory organization,  the  States  tried  to  solve  this  diffi- 
culty by  stipulating  reserves  destructive  of  all  obligation. 
So  it  happened  that,  among  the  provisions  which  became 
usual  in  the  main  conventions  agreed  upon  at  The  Hague 
in  1899  and  1907,  several  subordinate  the  observance  of 
the  proclaimed  rules  to  the  unilateral  will  of  the  obli- 
gated State.  The  formulas  used,  as  far  as  circumstances 
allow,  as  far  as  possible,  unless  military  exigencies  ren- 
der it  impossible,  if  all  other  means  are  impossible,  as 
soon  as  military  exigencies  permit,  constitute  most  evi- 
dently potestative  conditions  which  ought  in  interna- 
tional law,  as  in  private  law  as  applied  in  nearly  all 
States,  to  be  considered  void. 

Several  times  in  the  course  of  the  debates  of  the  Peace 
Conferences  delegates  did  remark,  from  the  fact  that  the 
interpretation  of  the  said  reserves  was  left  to  the  parties, 
that  the  contracting  States  preserve  the  right  of  taking 


32  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

back  with  one  hand  what  was  given  with  the  other.  It  is 
obvious  that  such  a  method  ought  to  be  condemned  by 
every  man  of  good  sense.  In  international  matters  more 
than  in  individual  matters,  it  is  necessary  that  the  obli- 
gations agreed  upon  should  be  clear  and  precise  and 
should  not  depend  on  the  good  or  bad  will  of  one  of  the 
contracting  parties.  A  clause  which  permits  one  of  the 
parties  to  do  or  not  to  do  at  his  pleasure  must  be  con- 
sidered as  void.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  following 
article : 

1 8.  Every  potestative  clause,  which  permits  to  any  or  to 
each  of  the  contracting  States  to  decide  in  a  sovereign  man- 
ner whether  a  convention  is  partly  or  completely  applicable 
to  a  given  case,  shall  be  considered  as  void. 

16.  The  world  is  henceforth  obliged  to  make  a  choice 
between  the  frank,  genuine  and  open  policy  of  peoples 
really  determined  to  further  their  common  welfare  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  cunning  and  hypocritical  policy  of 
men  who  have  used  the  peoples  to  quench  their  thirst  for 
prestige,  glory  and  wealth  on  the  other.  The  policy  of 
the  cliques  ought  to  make  room  for  the  policy  of  the 
masses.  The  peoples  ought  not  only  to  dispose  of  them- 
selves and  to  regulate  the  internal  administration  of 
their  communities,  but  also  to  make  themselves  heard  in 
their  relations  with  other  peoples.  All  that  is  done  un- 
known to  them  and  without  their  formal  agreement  must 
in  the  future  be  considered  as  non-existent.  Each  State 
ought  to  have  the  right  to  require  that  the  consent  given 
to  a  treaty  by  another  State  should  be  expressed  by  those 
who  are  regularly  the  representatives  of  the  masses  in 
that  State  and  of  its  public  opinion.  This  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  next  article : 

19.  Every  secret  treaty  is  void  and  does  not  bind  the 


RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  33 

States  in  whose  names  it  was  concluded.  A  treaty  is  valid 
only  if  it  is  negotiated  with  the  full  knowledge  of  the  direct 
representatives  of  the  peoples  interested  and  if  it  has  ob- 
tained the  public  assent  of  these  representatives. 

17.  Finally,  there  are  conventions  and  treaties  which 
the  States  ought  formally  to  pledge  themselves  never  to 
agree  upon,  because  they  are  essentially  destructive  to 
the  Society  of  States  and  in  flagrant  contradiction  of  the 
obligation  to  be  taken  by  the  States  to  combine  and  co- 
ordinate their  efforts  in  favor  of  the  common  welfare  of 
humanity:  namely,  political  or  military,  defensive  or 
offensive  alliances. 

Events  have  proved  that,  far  from  enforcing  peace  and 
promoting  justice,  they  have  been  the  cause  of  the  worst 
iniquities,  have  maintained  between  the  peoples  a  nefari- 
ous tension,  aroused  feelings  of  hatred  and  distrust, 
hindered  normal  development  by  compelling  the  peoples 
to  waste  in  unproductive  expenses  gigantic  resources 
which  would  have  improved  the  conditions  of  the  masses 
and  quickened  general  progress.  The  proof  is  tragic,  dis- 
astrous, peremptory,  irrefutable.  The  most  pessimistic 
prophecies  have  been  more  than  realized.  The  unstable 
equilibrium  of  Triple  Alliances  and  Triple  Ententes  has 
broken  down  in  blood  and  in  mud.  Who  would  dare  to 
extol  them  again  and  to  wish  their  revival? 

20.  The  States  prohibit  the  conclusion,  between  two  or 
more  of  them,  of  political  or  military,  defensive  or  offensive 
alliances. 

18.  Respect  for  freely   accepted   conventions   is   not 
the  only  consequence  of  the  rule  that  States  must  yield 
to  right,  equity  and  morals.     The  most  important  con- 
sequence is  that  recourse  to  force,  in  the  relations  be- 
tween the  States,  ought  to  make  room  for  the  recourse 


34  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

to  justice.    We  have  expressed  this  consequence  as  fol- 
lows: 

21.  All  conflicts  between  States  shall  be  settled  in  an  ami- 
cable or  contentious  manner. 

The  third  title  of  this  project  is  devoted  to  the  Inter- 
national Judicature  and  specifies  its  general  structure. 
A  special  and  complementary  convention  will  have  for  its 
object  the  regulation  of  the  constitution  of  the  various 
judicial  organs  and  the  procedure  to  be  applied  before 
them. 

Here  it  concerns  us  only  to  proclaim  the  general  rule 
that  there  are  no  conflicts  between  States  which  cannot, 
without  recourse  to  force,  be  settled  amicably  or  con- 
tentiously.  This  rule  constitutes  the  essential  element 
in  the  transformation  to  be  brought  about  in  the  rela- 
tions between  States.  Therefore  it  seems  important  to 
expound  some  of  the  objections  expressed  by  those  who 
believe  in  the  perpetuity  of  war  and  who,  with  the  profes- 
sional and  instinctive  slaughterers,  are  convinced  that 
armed  struggle  is  the  natural  state  of  man. 

In  the  course  of  both  Peace  Conferences  this  concep- 
tion came  forward  in  connection  with  the  proposition 
made  by  the  Eussian  delegation  to  submit  to  compulsory 
arbitration  certain  categories  of  conflicts.  This  proposi- 
tion contained,  however,  the  potestative  reserve  of  vital 
interest  and  national  honor,  which  evidently  meant  that 
recourse  to  arbitration  would  be  compulsory  if  the  States 
concerned  were  willing  to  yield  to  it.  Mr.  T.  M.  C. 
Asser,  the  well-known  Dutch  jurist,  with  his  usual  acute- 
ness  remarked  that  this  was  a  new  formula.  Mr.  Zorn, 
the  German  delegate,  declared  that  the  maintenance  of 
the  reserve  was  the  condition  sine  qua  non  of  the  ad- 
hesion of  his  government,  while  Mr.  de  Martens,  the 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  35 

Russian  delegate,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Asser,  admitted  that 
the  wording  was  indeed  new,  but  feared  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  a  better  one.11 

11  For  those  who  wish  to  know  how  this  reserve  was  introduced  and  advo- 
cated, the  following  details  will  be  interesting.  It  was,  in  fact,  included  in 
three  articles  of  the  proposition  made  by  the  Russian  delegation.  After 
having  declared  in  article  7  of  this  proposition  that  "in  so  far  as  regards 
disputes  relating  to  questions  of  right  and  primarily  to  those  affecting  the 
interpretation  or  application  of  treaties  in  force,  arbitration  is  ...  the 
most  effective  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  equitable  means  of  settling 
these  disputes  in  a  friendly  manner,"  the  proposition  contained  a  first 
article  (8)  which  incorporated  the  said  reserve  in  the  following  terms: 

The  contracting  Powers  pledge  themselves  consequently  to  have 
recourse  to  arbitration  in  all  cases  concerning  questions  of  the 
above-mentioned  order  in  so  far  as  they  affect  neither  the  vital  in- 
terests nor  the  national  honor  of  the  parties  In  dispute. 

This  article  was  suppressed,  without  explanation,  at  the  sitting  of  the 
Comit^  cTExamen  in  the  course  of  which  the  provisions  concerning  compul- 
sory arbitration  were  retired  in  the  face  of  the  unilateral  opposition  of 
Germany.  Among  these  last  provisions  was  a  second  article  (10)  con- 
taining the  said  reserve;  its  first  paragraph  was  as  follows: 

From  the  ratification  of  the  present  act  by  all  the  signatory  Pow- 
ers, arbitration  shall  be  compulsory  in  the  following  cases  in  so  far 
as  they  affect  neither  the  Interests  nor  the  national  honor  of 
the  contracting  States. 

The  third  article  (14)  including  a  similar  reserve  had  for  its  subject  the 
International  Commission  of  Inquiry  and  was  drafted  as  follows: 

In  cases  where  are  produced  between  the  signatory  States  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  concerning  local  circumstances  which  have  given 
rise  to  a  dispute  of  an  international  character  which  could  not  be 
settled  by  the  ordinary  diplomatic  means,  but  in  which  neither  the 
honor  nor  the  vital  interests  of  these  States  should  be  engaged, 
the  interested  governments  agree  to  institute  an  International  Com- 
mission of  Inquiry  in  order  to  ascertain  the  circumstances  which 
have  given  rise  to  the  disagreement  and  to  elucidate  on  the  spot, 
by  means  of  an  impartial  and  conscientious  investigation,  all  ques- 
tions of  fact. 

No  opposition  was  made  to  the  introduction  of  the  reserve  in  this  article; 
in  fact  the  long  discussion  about  this  article  turned  only  on  the  compulsory 
or  optional  character  of  the  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry.  How- 
ever, in  the  minutes  of  the  sixteenth  sitting  of  the  Comitt  d'Examen,  one  can 


36  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

In  fact  nobody  then  knew  and  nobody  now  knows  ex- 
read:  "On  a  question  by  the  president,  M.  Descamps  answered  that  the 
words  vital  interest  and  national  honor  exist  only  in  article  9  [the  article 
here  dealt  with]  after  having  appeared,  at  first,  in  several  parts  of  the  con- 
vention. This  expression  is  consequently  'a  witness  of  former  ages,'  as  the 
geologists  would  say." 

When  the  text  came  before  the  Third  Commission  in  its  eighth  sitting,  the 
expression  despised  as  a  "witness  of  former  ages"  had  disappeared,  although 
the  minutes  of  the  Comite  d'Examen  contain  nothing  about  it.  The  reserve 
was  introduced  anew  by  the  Rumanian  delegation,  which  opposed  most 
ardently  the  compulsory  character  of  the  International  Commissions  of 
Inquiry,  and  as  much  in  a  spirit  of  bargaining  as  from  weariness  the  text 
proposed  by  this  delegation  was  adopted  with  the  substitution  of  the  word 
essential  for  vital. 

A  last  effort  was  nevertheless  made  by  the  delegate  of  Serbia,  who  ob- 
jected to  the  introduction  of  change  in  the  text  proposed  by  the  Comite 
d'Examen :  "If  new  provisions  are  introduced  in  this  article,  it  will  be  at  the 
risk  of  compromising  its  fundamental  idea,  namely  its  optional  character. 
It  is  indeed  to  be  anticipated  that  discussions  will  arise  about  the  question 
if  national  honor  and  vital  interests  are  engaged.  In  such  discussions,  the 
smaller  States  will  be  in  a  state  of  inferiority  as  against  the  great  ones. 
...  In  an  international  convention,  in  which  all  the  contracting  parties 
ought  to  be  placed  on  a  footing  of  equality,  situations  should  not  be  created 
by  means  of  vague  clauses,  which  would  be  the  very  negation  of  the 
principle  .  .  .  that  there  are  no  great  and  small,  but  only  independent  and 
equal,  powers." 

When  the  second  Peace  Conference  met,  the  maintenance  of  the  reserve 
concerning  national  honor  and  vital  interests  and  its  extension  to  inde- 
pendence and  sovereignty  was  advocated  by  the  delegates  of  Belgium,  Greece, 
Switzerland  and  Turkey,  but  an  enormous  majority  of  the  States  voted  in 
favor  of  the  suppression  of  the  reserve  and  in  favor  of  recourse  to 
compulsory  arbitration  for  a  certain  number  of  conflicts. 

Faithful  to  this  opinion,  Denmark,  the  Netherlands,  Argentina,  and  Italy 
have  signed  treaties  of  permanent  arbitration  with  no  reserve  at  all. 
Among  the  112  treaties  of  permanent  arbitration,  whose  official  texts  were 
published  by  the  Bureau  of  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration,  61  have 
adopted  the  wording  of  the  convention  of  the  14th  October,  1903,  between 
France  and  Great  Britain  which  contains  the  reserve  of  honor,  independence 
and  vital  interests. 

By  analyzing  all  the  reserves  made  in  these  112  conventions  it  appears 
that  102  of  them  exclude  independence,  86  vital  interests,  85  national  honor, 
21  sovereignty,  11  constitutional  provisions  and  7  national  integrity. 
These  statistics  reveal  that  in  a  number  of  conventions  (26  or  27)  the 
States  have  not  attached  any  importance  at  all  to  their  honor  and  vital 
interests. 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  37 

actly  the  meaning  of  the  terms  used,  which  did  not,  how- 
ever, prevent  a  great  number  of  the  governments  from 
putting  them  as  a  clause  de  style  into  their  treaties  of 
permanent  arbitration.  Vague  expressions  have,  in  the 
eyes  of  diplomats,  the  enormous  advantage  of  vindicat- 
ing all  interpretations  and  of  allowing  the  governments 
to  free  themselves,  by  clever  subterfuges,  from  the  obli- 
gations to  which  they  appear  to  have  pledged  them- 
selves.12 

But  to  understand  thoroughly  the  inward  thought  of 
the  men  who  maintain  that  States  have  the  absolute  and 
irreducible  right  to  do  all  that  they  please,  it  is  im- 
portant to  reprint  here  some  of  the  theses  included  in  the 
note  distributed  in  connection  with  the  debates  by  the 
Russian  delegation,  precisely  in  support  of  its  proposi- 
tion in  favor  of  compulsory  arbitration.  Here  they  are : 

"It  is  obvious  that  this  [compulsory]  arbitration  can 
not  be  applied  to  all  cases  and  to  all  kinds  of  disputes. 
No  government  would  agree  to  take  in  advance  the 
obligation  to  submit  to  the  decision  of  an  arbitral  tri- 
bunal every  dispute  which  could  arise  in  the  interna- 
tional field,  if  it  affected  national  honor  of  the  State, 
its  higher  interests  and  its  imprescriptible  goods. 

"Actually  the  reciprocal  rights  and  obligations  of  the 
States  are  defined,  in  a  large  measure,  by  the  whole  of 
what  is  called  the  political  treaties,  which  are  nothing 
else  than  the  temporary  expression  of  the  fortuitous 

12  An  incident,  almost  forgotten,  shows  how  fragile  is  this  national  honor 
on  which  diplomats  are  so  prone  to  lay  so  much  stress.  During  the  first 
conference  held  at  Vienna  in  1855,  in  the  course  of  the  Crimean  war,  the 
Russian  plenipotentiary  declared  that  the  honor  of  his  country  did  not 
allow  him  to  accept  the  limitation  of  the  number  of  warships  to  be  main- 
tained by  Russia  in  the  Black  Sea.  Some  months  later,  by  the  treaty  of 
Paris  of  1856,  without  any  allusion  made  by  them  to  their  honor,  the 
Emperor  of  all  the  Russias  and  the  Sultan  agreed  to  reduce  their  naval 
forces  to  some  light  ships  necessary  for  the  coast  service. 


38  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

and  transitory  relations  between  various  national 
forces.  These  treaties  confine  the  liberty  of  action  of 
the  parties,  as  long  as  the  political  conditions  under 
which  they  were  drafted  remain  unchanged.  If 
these  conditions  are  altered,  the  rights  and  obligations 
flowing  from  these  treaties  must  be  necessarily 
changed.  In  general,  the  disputes  arising  out  of  po- 
litical treaties  chiefly  concern  not  so  much  a  differ- 
ence of  interpretation  of  such  or  such  a  norm  as  the 
changes  to  be  brought  to  this  norm  or  its  complete 
repeal. 

'  *  The  powers  which  play  an  active  part  in  European 
political  life  can  not  consequently  submit  the  disputes 
growing  out  of  political  treaties  to  an  arbitral  tribunal, 
in  whose  eyes  the  norm  established  by  a  treaty  would 
be  as  obligatory,  as  inviolable,  as  is  the  norm  estab- 
lished by  positive  law  in  the  eyes  of  any  national  tri- 
bunal. From  the  point  of  view  of  practical  politics 
the  impossibility  of  universal  compulsory  arbitration 
is  consequently  obvious. ' ' 13 

is  In  a  report  prepared  by  Mr.  Goldschmidt,  Counsellor  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  German  Empire,  and  addressed  to  the  Institute  of  Interna- 
tional Law  on  a  project  for  the  regulation  of  international  arbitral  tri- 
bunals, the  author  examined  the  same  question  and  explained  his  meaning 
as  follows: 

"It  is  nevertheless  difficult  to  suppose  that  sovereign  States  and  partic- 
ularly the  great  Powers  will  ever  consent  to  yield,  in  advance  and  for  all 
possible  disputes,  to  the  decisions  of  an  arbitral  tribunal.  Political  disputes 
of  an  intricate  nature,  in  which  questions  of  nationality,  of  equality  of 
rights,  of  sovereignty  constitutes  either  the  main  point,  or  the  hidden  but 
real  cause  of  the  dispute,  these  disputes  which,  by  their  very  nature,  are 
less  questions  of  right  than  of  power,  will  always  be  reserved  from  such  a 
mode  of  settlement.  States  in  possession  of  some  power  of  resistance  will 
never  bow  before  a  judge  when  the  points  in  question  are  their  supreme 
interests  or  those  considered  as  such.  The  best  meant  efforts  will  necessarily 
fail  against  such  interests  and  the  passions  which  they  arouse.  No  arbitral 
tribunal  could  have  prevented  the  secular  struggles  between  Great  Britain 
and  France  about  the  British  claims  on  French  territory,  nor  the  struggles 
between  France  and  the  houses  of  Austria  and  Spain  for  preponderance  in 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  39 

This  is  a  valuable  acknowledgment,  for  it  shows  that 
the  government  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  States  in 
the  world,  the  State  which  called  together  the  Peace  Con- 
ference, was  not  ashamed  to  declare  that  the  political 
treaties  it  had  signed  were  binding  it  only  so  far  as  the 
forces  of  the  contracting  parties  were  able  to  compel  it, 
and  that  consequently  it  had  the  right  to  violate  the  obli- 
gations taken.  It  is  the  cynical  negation  of  right.  Such 
a  conception  is  no  longer  valid.  It  could  have  been 
accepted  at  a  time  when  the  peoples  were  chessmen  which 
potentates  moved  at  their  pleasure.  The  time  of  poten- 
tates is  past  and  the  peoples  are  tired  of  princes '  games, 
of  which  they  alone  are  the  victims. 

What  must  be  kept  in  mind  from  what  we  have  just 
recalled  is  that  some  disputes  of  a  political  order  can  not 
be  easily  submitted  to  arbitrators  or  to  commissioners, 
though  such  a  difficulty  is  much  exaggerated,  for,  as  Mr. 
de  Martens  pointed  out  during  the  Peace  Conference  of 
1907,  Great  Britain  and  Russia  did  not  hesitate,  when 
the  Hull  incident  occurred,  in  which  both  States  con- 
sidered that  their  vital  interests  and  their  national  honor 
were  involved,  to  have  recourse  to  a  Commission  of  In- 
quiry in  order  to  settle  their  disagreement. 

The  truth  is  that  it  is  possible  to  use  other  methods 
than  arbitration,  inquiries,  tribunals,  or  mediation  to 
settle  disputes  of  a  political  rather  than  a  judicial  char- 
acter. From  all  sides  the  proposition  is  made  to  create 
an  organism  to  fulfill  such  a  function,  namely  an  Inter- 
national Council  of  Conciliation,  a  consolidation  and  en- 
largement of  what  the  European  Concert  has  been  in 

Italy,  nor  those  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Spaniards,  nor  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  nor  the  wars  between  Austria  and  Italy,  between  Austria  and 
Prussia,  between  Germany  and  France,  nor  the  great  American  war. 
Neither  Louis  XIV  nor  Napoleon  I  would  ever  have  agreed  to  submit  to 
arbitrators  their  claim  to  the  domination  of  the  world."  (Revue  de  droit 
international,  1874,  p.  423.) 


40  THE  GEEAT  SOLUTION 

some  delicate  circumstances,  a  true  family  council  of  the 
States.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  with  a  little  good  will, 
much  wisdom  and  especially  the  active  and  energetic 
pressure  of  universal  public  opinion,  such  an  aim  can  be 
attained.  In  the  complementary  convention  subjoined  to 
this  project,  we  have  included  the  proposed  International 
Council  of  Conciliation  among  the  various  modes  of 
amicable  jurisdiction. 

19.  What  we  have  said  as  a  conclusion  to  our  com- 
mentary on  the  preceding  article  amply  justifies  the  fol- 
lowing article.    The  fact  that  all  disputes  ought  to  be 
submitted   to   an   amicable   or   contentious   jurisdiction 
eliminates  ipso  facto  any  direct  and  unilateral  recourse 
to  an  armed  compulsion. 

22.  No  State  has  the  right  to  have  recourse  to  force  with- 
out the  consent  and  the  co-operation  of  the  other  States  and 
only  as  a  judicial  sanction  or  coercion. 

As  the  terms  used  in  this  article  indicate,  all  recourse 
to  force  is  not  excluded  from  the  relations  between 
States,  but  such  a  recourse  will  be  a  collective  one  and 
may  have  only  the  character  of  a  police  measure  in  order 
to  secure  submissiveness  to  international  law  as  freely 
accepted. 

The  manner  in  which  such  a  recourse  will  be  brought 
into  action,  the  co-operation  to  be  given  by  each  State, 
the  regulations  to  be  applied  by  those  who  will  have  the 
painful  mission  of  fulfilling  such  a  task,  will  form  the 
subject  of  a  complementary  convention. 

20.  It  was  also  necessary  to  foresee  the  case,  which  we 
hope  will  become  more  and  more  unlikely,  where  a  State 
that  refused  to  sign  a  pact  similar  to  the  one  we  are 
analyzing,  or  even  a  signatory  State,  might  attack  one 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  41 

of  the  contracting  States.  That  the  State  attacked 
should  have  the  right  to  defend  itself,  no  one  would 
doubt;  but,  if  it  is  really  wished  to  oppose  all  use  of 
force  by  a  warlike  State,  it  must  be  agreed  that  all  the 
members  of  the  Society  of  States  are  obliged  to  support 
the  attacked  State  and  to  aid  it  efficaciously.  It  will  per- 
haps be  said  that  such  an  agreement  is  a  new  application 
of  the  old  adage  that  it  is  the  threat  of  war  which  makes 
for  peace.  But  the  conception  which  ascribes  the  main- 
tenance of  peace  to  the  equilibrium  of  hostile  forces  is 
quite  different  from  the  conception  which  enforces  peace 
by  a  collective  police  force  stronger  than  any  national 
force.  This  is  expressed  by  the  following  article : 

23.  A  State  which  is  attacked,  outside  of  the  conditions 
conventionally  and  collectively  established  by  the  States,  has 
a  right  of  legitimate  defense.  The  other  States  are  obliged 
to  participate  in  this  defense  and  to  make  it  efficacious. 

Humanity  indeed  is  placed  before  this  dilemma: 
either  to  see  the  constitution  of  an  empire  powerful 
enough  to  impose  its  will  on  the  world  and  to  curb  under 
its  law  all  the  States  which  it  could  not  enclose  in  its 
frontiers,  or  to  try  to  unite  the  majority  of  the  States 
in  a  league  of  mutual  guaranty  able  to  oppose  all  at- 
tempts at  universal  domination.  The  choice  does  not 
seem  doubtful.  In  the  first  hypothesis  not  only  will  the 
dominating  State  be  obliged  to  arm  in  order  to  resist  all 
attempts  of  liberation  by  the  enslaved  peoples  and  by 
the  States  whose  submission  it  has  obtained,  but  these 
States  will  arm  also  to  the  limits  of  their  resources.  In 
the  second  hypothesis,  the  number  of  States,  anxious  to 
escape  from  crushing  burdens,  will  be  great  enough  to 
permit  a  proportional  reduction  of  their  armaments; 
their  economic  situation  will  in  fact  be  so  improved  that 
the  dissenting  or  hostile  States  will  be  compelled,  under 


42  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

pressure  from  their  own  citizens,  to  rally  to  a  policy  of 
good  will  and  partial  or  complete  disarmament. 

21.  Nevertheless,  to  indicate  clearly  the  spirit  in  which 
the  proposed  measures  are  to  be  applied,  we  thought  it 
advisable  to  complete  the  provision  authorizing  them  by 
another  limiting  their  use  to  what  is  strictly  necessary 
and  unavoidable. 

24.  The  States  shall  not  have  recourse  to  force  as  a  means 
of  sanction,  coercion  or  defense  before  having  exhausted  all 
moral,  political  and  economic  means  of  constraint. 

At  first  sight  such  a  provision  will  seem  somewhat 
theoretical,  but  we  may  hope  for  three  profound  changes 
in  the  world's  conception  of  the  moral,  political  and  eco- 
nomic relations  between  the  peoples.  First,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  press  of  hatred  and  falsehood,  of  perfidy 
and  insult  will  be  struck  to  death  by  concerted  repressive 
measures.  There  is  no  question  of  restricting  the  liberty 
of  the  press,  but  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  simi- 
lar penal  laws  should  severely  punish  lies,  calumnies  and 
injuries  directed  against  peoples  as  similar  acts  are  pun- 
ished when  directed  against  rulers.  It  is  also  to  be 
hoped  that  the  governments  will  take  care  to  redress  the 
false  assertions  which  come  through  the  press,  and  that 
an  adequate  right  of  reply  will  be  granted  to  their  agents 
in  the  various  countries.  The  groups  which  work  every- 
where to  further  a  better  understanding  between  the 
peoples  should  agree  in  this  respect  to  keep  an  uninter- 
rupted and  merciless  watch. 

In  the  political  domain  an  essential  modification  is  to 
be  made  in  the  recruiting  of  the  diplomatic  corps.  The 
mistake  of  selecting  the  diplomatic  personnel  from  the 
small  world  of  the  nobility  and  from  men  deformed  by 
a  one-sided  education  must  be  stopped.  The  system 


EIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  43 

long  since  adopted  by  democratic  States,  and  especially 
by  the  United  States  of  America,  should  be  applied  by 
all  the  States.  No  organization  than  the  diplomatic 
body  should  be  more  imbued  with  new,  modern  and  pro- 
gressive ideas,  instead  of  representing,  in  a  world  in 
continuous  and  rapid  evolution,  the  most  formalist,  the 
most  conservative  and  the  most  pusillanimous  tendencies. 

Finally,  from  the  economic  point  of  view,  the  growth 
of  the  policy  of  free  trade,  which  we  have  advocated 
above,  will  create,  between  the  commercial,  industrial  and 
financial  interests  of  the  various  peoples,  a  solidarity  so 
interwoven  that  the  least  threat  of  conflict  or  cessation 
of  relations  will  be  sufficient  to  rouse  them  with  an  im- 
pressive unanimity  against  those  who  would  be  willing 
to  trouble  the  peace  of  the  world.  We  think  that  the 
lesson  of  the  great  war,  whose  terrific  economic  conse- 
quences only  begin  to  be  perceived,  will  not  be  lost  and 
that  to  allude  to  it  will  be  enough  to  raise  universal  public 
opinion  against  the  monstrous  supporters  of  a  new 
similar  cataclysm. 

It  is  objected  to  the  idea  of  giving  to  a  community  of 
States  the  right  to  institute  military  or  economic  action 
against  one  of  its  members,  that  no  State,  and  espe- 
cially no  powerful  State  such  as  Russia,  France,  Great 
Britain  or  the  United  States  of  America,  would  accept 
the  contingency  of  being  compelled  to  bow  to  the  collec- 
tive action  of  States  having  a  very  limited  territory  or  a 
small  population.  We  are  of  the  opinion  that  such  a  be- 
havior, adopted  by  one  or  more  States,  would  be  heralded 
as  a  dishonorable  acknowledgment  of  their  intention  to 
act  so  as  to  deserve  the  blame  of  the  other  States.  Their 
acquiescence  in  measures  of  coercion,  sanction  or  defense 
would,  on  the  contrary,  be  considered  as  a  token  of  their 
sincerity  and  loyalty.  A  State  resolved  to  observe 
international  law,  drafted  with  its  collaboration,  and  to 


44  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

respect  the  conventions  it  has  freely  signed,  has  no  more 
to  fear  from  a  repressive  or  coercive  action  than  a  private 
person  who  remains  faithful  to  his  contracts  and  abstains 
from  all  blameworthy  acts.  The  high  standing  imparted 
to  a  State  will  be  proportionate  to  its  participation  in  all 
measures  intended  to  secure  international  order  and 
justice ;  its  abstention  or  its  withdrawal  would  subject  it 
to  universal  mistrust,  and  it  would  easily  become  the  out- 
cast of  the  world. 

22.  The  principle  of  the  equality  of  the  States  is  funda- 
mental in  all  international  relations.  It  was,  however, 
discussed  with  some  roughness  in  the  course  of  the  last 
Peace  Conference,  especially  when  the  question  of  the 
selection  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Arbitral  Justice 
was  discussed.  The  delegates  of  a  large  majority  of  the 
States  protested  unanimously  against  any  infringement 
of  it,  and  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  principle  of 
equality  ought  to  be  firmly  maintained  and  proclaimed. 

It  is  this  principle  which  was  applied  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  American  Senate  and  of  the  Swiss  Council  of 
States,  organizations  which  have,  within  both  the  Ameri- 
can and  Helvetic  confederations,  the  character  of  a  diplo- 
matic representation. 

When  once  the  project  is  suggested  to  place  beside  the 
Conference  of  States  an  International  Parliament,  it  will 
be  time  to  investigate  whether  a  system  of  proportional 
representation  ought  to  prevail  in  the  choice  of  the  mem- 
bers of  this  new  assembly.14  But  it  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance that  the  principle  of  equality,  from  a  diplomatic 
point  of  view,  should  not  be  weakened  at  the  risk  of  es- 
tablishing a  hierarchy  of  States  and  of  disturbing  pro- 
foundly the  relations  between  their  plenipotentiaries. 

i*  This  problem  was  investigated  by  the  author  as  reporter  at  the  Inter- 
parliamentary Conference  at  London  in  1906. 


BIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  STATES  45 

We  think  that  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  experts  in 
international  law  in  this  respect  frees  us  from  comment- 
ing more  at  length  on  the  following  article : 

25.  The  States  are  equal,  whatever  may  be  the  extent  of 
their  territory  or  the  importance  of  their  population.     Equal 
respect  is  assured  to  the  name,  flag,  seal,  blazon  and  device 
adopted  by  each  State. 

23.  It  is  finally  also  very  important  that  the  rights  of 
men,  guaranteed  within  nearly  every  State  by  their 
fundamental  pact,  should  be  acknowledged  and  protected 
wherever  a  man  may  go  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  In 
fact,  it  is  so  already  in  most  countries,  which  often  wel- 
come foreigners  with  a  marked  preference.  But  there 
exist  some  exceptions  which  ought  to  disappear  at  the 
very  moment  when  there  is  a  question  of  definitively  con- 
stituting the  human  community  on  bases  of  understand- 
ing, benevolence,  regard,  conciliation  and  collaboration. 
The  equality  of  States  ought  to  have  as  its  complement 
the  equality  of  men. 

The  two  articles  which  follow  have  for  their  object  the 
fixing  of  this  principle  and  of  enumerating  limitatively 
the  conventional  restrictions  which  the  States  may  place 
upon  it : 

26.  Foreigners  enjoy  in  all  States  the  liberties  and  rights 
guaranteed  to  nationals.     The  States  proclaim  that  these 
liberties  and  rights  essentially  include  individual  liberty  and 
security,  inviolability  of  domicile  and  property,  freedom  of 
conscience,  freedom  of  speech,  inviolability  of  correspond- 
ence, freedom  of  association,  freedom  of  religion.     Restric- 
tions may  be  enacted  in  respect  to  the  enjoyment  of  certain 
rights  of  elective  franchise  and  of  eligibility. 

27.  Neither  race,  nationality,  language,  nor  religious,  phil- 
osophical or  social  convictions  may  be  used  as  a  basis  on 
which  to  exclude  or  to  expel  foreigners. 


46  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

Nevertheless,  the  States  may  agree  on  regulations  to  be 
applied  to  the  abnormal  and  amoral,  the  insane,  infected  pa- 
tients, professional  beggars  and  vagrants,  persons  who  have 
been  convicted  and  all  other  categories  of  undesirable  per- 
sons. They  will  also  establish  common  regulations  in  mat- 
ters of  change  of  nationality  and  may  agree  upon  general 
measures  relating  to  the  annual  or  absolute  number  of  im- 
migrants admitted  on  the  territory  of  each  State  or  to  their 
distribution  thereupon. 


CHAPTER  HI 

CONFERENCE  OP  STATES 

1.  IN  the  Final  Act  of  the  Peace  Conference  of  1907  the 
plenipotentiaries  assembled  at  The  Hague  inserted  the 
following  recommendations : 

"Finally,  the  Conference  recommends  to  the  Powers  the 
assembly  of  a  third  Peace  Conference,  which  might  be 
held  within  a  period  corresponding  to  that  which  has 
elapsed  since  the  preceding  agreement  between  the 
Powers,  and  it  calls  their  attention  to  the  necessity  of 
preparing  the  programme  of  this  third  Conference  a  suf- 
ficient time  beforehand  to  insure  its  deliberations  being 
conducted  with  the  necessary  authority  and  expedition. 

"In  order  to  attain  this  object  the  Conference  considers 
that  it  would  be  very  desirable  that,  some  two  years  be- 
fore the  probable  date  of  the  meeting,  a  preparatory  Com- 
mittee should  be  charged  by  the  Governments  with  the 
task  of  collecting  the  various  proposals  to  be  submitted  to 
the  Conference,  of  ascertaining  what  subjects  are  ripe  for 
international  regulation,  and  of  preparing  a  programme 
upon  which  the  Governments  should  decide  in  sufficient 
time  to  allow  of  careful  examination  in  each  country. 
This  Committee  should  further  be  intrusted  with  the  task 
of  proposing  a  system  of  organization  and  procedure  for 
the  Conference  itself. ' ' 

It  results  from  this  text  that  the  idea  of  perpetuating 
the  Peace  Conference  and  of  organizing  it  was  imposed 
in  some  way  on  those  who  took  part  in  its  second  session. 
It  was  on  the  proposition  of  the  president,  Mr.  de  Nelidov, 

47 


48  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

that  the  above  recommendation  was  made.1  But  in 
reality  it  was  the  American  delegation  which  took  the  ini- 
tiative in  pursuance  of  the  instructions  given  by  Mr.  Elihu 
Boot,  Secretary  of  State,  instructions  which  specifically 
invited  that  delegation  to  ' 'favor  the  adoption  of  a  resolu- 
tion by  the  Conference  providing  for  the  holding  of  fur- 
ther conferences  within  fixed  periods  and  arranging  the 
machinery  by  which  such  conferences  may  be  called,  and 
the  terms  of  the  programme  may  be  arranged,  without 
awaiting  any  new  and  specific  initiative  on  the  part  of 
the  Powers,  or  any  one  of  them. ' '  2 

The  project,  rather  vague  and  unformed,  which  seems 
to  have  gained  the  adhesion  of  the  authors  of  the  recom- 
mendation made  to  the  States,  consists  chiefly  in  the  as- 
sembly of  the  Peace  Conference  every  eight  years  and 
the  intrusting  of  preparation  therefor,  two  years  at  least 

1  It  is  interesting  to  recall  what  was  said  by  Mr.  de  Nelidov  on  behalf 
of  his  motion:   "The  rather  slow  and  sometimes  uncertain  process  of  our 
proceedings  as  well  as  the  impossibility,   in  which  the  Conference  found 
itself,  of  solving  some  of  the  questions  submitted  to  it  and  proposed  during 
our  deliberations,  have  suggested  to  some  of  our  colleagues  the  idea  of 
considering  at  present  the  usefulness  of  the  meeting  of  a  third  Conference 
and  the  necessity  for  preparing  in  advance  its  detailed  programme  and 
its  mode  of  working  and  organization.     An  exchange  of  views,  which  took 
place  as  a  consequence  of  this  suggestion,  resulted  in  the  drafting  of  a 
recommendation  to  be  submitted  to  our  governments  as  a  wish." 

2  In  the  report  made  to  its  government  by  the  American  delegation  some 
interesting  remarks  are  to  be  noticed :  "The  desire  of  the  friends  of  progress 
is  to  have  the  Hague  Conference  a  permanent  institution,  which  meets  at 
certain  regular  periods,  automatically  if  possible,  and  beyond  the  control 
of  any  one  Power.     The  American  delegation  was  instructed  to  secure,  if 
possible,  this  result,  and  through  the  efforts  of  the  American  delegation  this 
result  was  reached  in   large  measure."     Then,   after   having  exposed  the 
contents  of  the  adopted  recommendation,  the  report  adds:  "The  wisdom  of 
these  provisions  is  so  apparent  that  any  justification  of  them  seems  un- 
necessary.    The  last  clause,  however,  cannot  be  passed  in  silence,  as  its 
importance  is  fundamental,  for,  in  simple  terms,  it  means  that  the  Con- 
ference is  not  to  be  organized  nor  the  method  of  procedure  determined  by  any 
single  Power.     In  other  words,  the  Conference,  it  would  seem,  is  to  be  given 
over  to  itself." 


CONFERENCE  OF  STATES  49 

before  its  meeting,  to  a  special  body.  In  fact  fourteen 
governments,  willing  to  secure  this  preparation,  ap- 
pointed national  commissions,  and  France,  to  the  same 
purpose,  created  a  special  bureau  connected  with  its 
Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

We  have  tried  to  take  these  summary  indications  and 
realizations  into  account  and  to  reconcile  them  with 
propositions  and  criticisms  made  elsewhere. 

2.  As  is  set  forth  by  the  title  of  this  chapter,  we  deemed 
it  necessary  to  change  the  name  given  to  the  assemblies 
which  met  at  The  Hague  in  1899  and  1907.    As  long  as 
these  assemblies  had,  for  their  essential  aim,  the  finding 
of  means  to  reduce  the  burden  of  armaments  and  to  settle 
peaceably  international  conflicts,  it  seemed  reasonable  to 
call  them  Peace  Conferences.    But  their  mission  is  now 
to  be  largely  extended;  they  will  have  to  determine  the 
rules  which  shall  preside  in  the  future  over  the  multi- 
farious relations  between  States;  they  will  be  regularly 
attended  by  the  delegates  of  all  the  States ;  the  institution 
of  an  International  Judicature  will  be  settled  at  its  next 
session;  the  reduction  of  armaments  will  be  less  the 
goal  than  a  result  of  the  measures  taken.    And  then  the 
Peace  Conferences  have  chiefly  devoted  their  best  efforts 
to  the  vain  and  almost  trifling  work  of  phrasing  laws  of 
war.     The  title  given  to  them  has  indeed  become  too 
ironical. 

All  things  should  be  distinguished  by  names,  indicative 
of  what  they  are ;  the  assembly  which  ought  to  meet  in  the 
future,  in  order  to  control  the  common  interests  of  the 
peoples,  will  essentially  be  a  Conference  of  States. 

3.  The  first  and  most  serious  complaint  expressed  with 
respect  to  the  late  Peace  Conferences  is  that  their  meet- 
ing depended  on  the  good  will  of  one  ruler,  the  Czar  of 


50 

Russia.  When  the  question  arose  of  the  meeting  of  the 
second  Peace  Conference,  the  initiative  was  taken  by 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  at  that  time  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  but  the  Czar  of  Russia  claimed  for 
himself  the  right  of  calling  it  together,  and  this  right  was 
implicitly  acknowledged.  Many  are  of  the  opinion  that, 
once  created,  so  important  an  organization  ought  to  have 
its  own  life  and  to  fix  its  sessions  as  it  pleases.  Others 
think  that  the  general  interest  of  humanity  requires  that 
the  Conference  of  States  should  meet  periodically  and 
automatically  under  such  conditions  that  its  sessions 
should  not  be  dependent  on  the  caprice  of  a  prince  or  of  a 
majority.  Most  constitutions  determine  the  date  when 
the  national  parliament  meets  and  we  believe  that  the  So- 
ciety of  States  must  adopt  a  similar  solution. 

But  what  period  is  to  be  chosen?  We  have  pointed  out 
that  the  second  Peace  Conference  considered  as  con- 
venient a  period  of  eight  years.  Our  opinion  is  that  the 
Conference  of  States  should  have  frequent  sittings.  It 
is  imperative  that  public  attention  should  be  unceasingly 
fixed  upon  the  common  interests  of  humanity.  The  prob- 
lems to  be  solved  are  indeed  so  numerous,  as  will  be 
shown  further  on,  that  biennial  sessions  will  not  be  too 
frequent.  We  deem  it  even  useful  to  give  to  the  members 
of  the  Conference  of  States  the  faculty  of  convoking  more 
frequent  sessions. 

On  the  other  hand,  for  similar  reasons,  it  would  be 
necessary  that  the  sessions  should  be  itinerant,  and  conse- 
quently that  each  Conference  of  States  should  decide 
where  its  next  session  would  sit.  These  changes  of  place 
would  have  the  supplementary  advantage  of  bringing  the 
delegates  of  the  States  successively  into  close  contact  with 
the  various  populations  of  the  globe,  their  needs  and  as- 
pirations. 


CONFERENCE  OF  STATES  51 

The  following  text  takes  into  account  the  ideas  we  have 
summarized  above : 

28.  The  delegates  of  the  States  meet,  once  in  two  years 
at  least,  in  a  Conference  whose  place  of  meeting  shall  be 
fixed  at  the  last  sitting  of  the  previous  Conference.  In  de- 
fault of  such  a  decision,  the  session  shall  take  place  at  The 
Hague.  The  Conference  will  automatically  meet,  without 
special  convocation,  on  the  eighteenth  of  May. 

The  States  pledge  themselves,  when  the  Conference  meets 
on  their  territory,  to  place  at  its  disposal  the  desired  quarters 
and  personnel. 

4.  After  having  regulated  the  meeting  of  the  Confer- 
ence of  States,  it  is  necessary  to  determine  how  it  shall 
be  made  up.  We  think  it  needless  to  depart  from  the 
custom  followed  by  a  great  number  of  previous  diplo- 
matic conferences  and  which  can  be  called  the  system  of 
missions.  The  rule,  however,  which  should  be  insisted 
upon  is  the  appointment  of  the  missions  by  the  repre- 
sentative bodies  of  the  various  States:  it  is  very  impor- 
tant, for  the  reasons  already  given,  that  the  delegates 
should  not  be  exclusively  taken  from  the  diplomatic  and 
official  classes.  This  has  already  been  taken  into  account 
for  the  appointment  of  the  technical  delegates  to  the  sec- 
ond Peace  Conference.  Out  of  the  174  delegates  com- 
posing this  assembly,  55  belonged  to  the  army  and  navy, 
29  were  jurists  and  19  were  parliamentarians.3  We 
think  also  that  it  is  necessary  to  give  to  each  State  the 

» It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  26  States  represented  at  the  first 
Peace  Conference  by  138  delegates,  of  whom  78  were  diplomats,  36  officers, 
12  jurists  and  12  parliamentarians,  were  represented  at  the  Second  Peace 
Conference  by  131  delegates,  of  whom  48  were  diplomats,  47  officers,  26 
jurists  and  10  parliamentarians.  The  proportion  of  the  official  elements 
(diplomats  and  officers)  changed  from  82.6%  to  72.4%  while  the  non- 
official  elements  (jurists  and  parliamentarians)  grew  from  17.4%  to  27.6%. 


52  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

faculty  to  select  its  mission  in  its  own  way.  The  coun- 
tries which  possess  a  greater  number  of  specialists  than 
others  will  not  be  hindered  in  their  choice  and  will  be  able 
consequently  to  aid  more  largely  in  the  solution  of  the 
problems  which  the  Conference  of  States  will  have  to  take 
up.  The  childish  vanity  displayed  by  certain  govern- 
ments in  appointing  a  numerous  mission  ad  pompam  et 
ostentationem  would  only  make  them  ridiculous  and  in- 
jure their  own  prestige. 

No  inconvenience  resulted  from  this  method  of  pro- 
cedure in  the  course  of  the  two  Peace  Conferences.  The 
only  recommendation  to  be  made  is  that  each  delegation 
should  include  at  least  as  many  members  as  the  Confer- 
ence of  States  comprises  commissions.  It  is  really  in 
these  commissions  that  the  investigation  of  the  questions 
to  be  solved  is  made  most  carefully,  and  it  is  highly  impor- 
tant that  each  State  should  be  able  to  express  its  opinion 
in  each  commission  and  at  least  take  part  in  their  votes. 

29.  Each  State  is  represented  at  the  Conference  by  a  mis- 
sion composed  of  an  unlimited  number  of  delegates  which 
it  shall  be  allowed  to  appoint  in  its  own  way.  It  is,  how- 
ever, recommended  that  the  number  of  delegates  should  at 
least  be  equal  to  the  number  of  Commissions  requisite  to 
the  fulfilment  of  the  work  of  each  Conference  and  that  they 
should  be  chosen,  according  to  their  aptitudes,  by  the  repre- 
sentative bodies  of  the  various  States  from  among  the  most 
competent  personages  of  each  country. 

5.  We  think  it  useful  to  define  some  details  concerning 
the  nature  of  the  mandate  given  to  the  various  delegates. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  technical  delegates  ought  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  principal  delegates;  they  have,  in- 
deed, largely  a  consultative  mission  and  the  final  decision 
cannot  remain  with  them.  But  it  is  difficult  to  frame 


CONFERENCE  OF  STATES  53 

a  rule  in  this  respect ;  each  State  will  have  to  give  special 
instructions  to  its  delegates.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  dur- 
ing both  Peace  Conferences  numerous  delegations  could 
not  express  an  opinion  before  having  referred  to  their 
governments. 

A  new  regulation  should  be  introduced,  urging  each 
State,  after  the  appointment  of  its  delegates  is  made,  to 
give  notification,  six  months  at  least  before  each  Confer- 
ence, of  the  composition  of  its  mission.  It  is  useful  that 
the  delegates  should  know  one  another  in  advance  and  be 
able,  in  case  of  need,  to  come  into  mutual  contact.  When 
both  Peace  Conferences  took  place  most  of  the  delegates 
were  unknown  to  each  other  and  diplomatic  prudence 
obliged  them,  during  long  weeks,  to  have  only  relations 
of  vain  and  formal  politeness.  Some  biographical  in- 
formation would  certainly  be  welcomed  and  the  Perma- 
nent International  Secretaryship,  whose  creation  we  ad- 
vocate, would  be  the  true  agency  for  gathering  and  pub- 
lishing it. 

30.  The  missions  may  include  titular,  technical  and  sub- 
stitute delegates.  The  States  may  during  the  sessions 
modify  the  composition  of  their  respective  missions.  All 
notifications  respecting  the  appointment  of  delegates  shall 
be  made  to  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship  and 
shall  be  forwarded  thereto  six  months  before  each  Confer- 
ence. The  Permanent  International  Secretaryship  shall  pre- 
pare a  list  of  the  delegates  and  notify  the  same  to  all  the 
States  three  months  before  each  session. 

6.  The  question  of  one  vote  for  each  State  cannot  give 
rise  to  a  controversy.  In  entering  this  rule  in  a  special 
article  we  only  follow  a  secular  practice  based  on  the 
principle  of  equality  between  States.  In  prescribing  by 
whom  the  vote  shall  be  expressed,  we  have  abided  by  an 
undisputed  diplomatic  custom. 


54  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

31.  Each   State   disposes  of  only   one   vote.     This  vote 
shall  be  cast  in  each  Commission  by  the  delegate  specially 
appointed  to  this  effect  by  each  mission  and  in  plenary 
sittings  by  the  chief  of  the  mission  or  another  person  ap- 
pointed by  him. 

7.  The  considerable  importance  to  be  given  to  the  de- 
liberations of  the  Conference  of  States  requires  that  each 
of  its  sessions  should  be  surrounded  by  an  exceptional 
brilliance.  It  is  evidently  not  a  part  of  an  international 
pact  to  settle  upon  the  festivities  which  should  enhance 
the  opening  of  each  Conference  of  States.  We  are  con- 
vinced that  the  peoples  will  feel  instinctively  the  need  of 
renewing,  on  the  occasion  of  each  session  of  the  high  as- 
sembly, the  promise  they  will  make  soon  to  live  hence- 
forth in  peace.  If,  as  we  hope,  the  Conference  of  States 
will  be  itinerant,  there  will  arise  between  the  peoples  a 
wholesome  competition  and  they  will  try  to  surpass  one 
another  in  the  commemoration  of  their  hearty  under- 
standing. It  is  necessary  that,  at  the  moment  when  the 
delegates  resume  their  work,  they  know  that  universal 
public  opinion  surrounds  them  with  its  wishes  and  encour- 
agement. 

In  the  article  concerning  the  opening  of  each  Confer- 
ence of  States,  we  think  that  it  will  be  sufficient,  in  order 
to  indicate  its  importance,  to  enumerate  the  personages 
who  should  be  officially  present. 

32.  The  solemn  opening  sitting  of  each  Conference  shall 
take  place  under  the  presidency  of  the  Chief  of  the  State 
on  whose  territory  it  meets.     It  shall  take  place  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  representatives  of  the  authorities  of  this  State 
and  the  members  of  the  diplomatic  body  accredited  to  it. 

The  public  and  the  press,  either  national  or  foreign,  shall 
be  allowed  to  assist  at  this  ceremony  as  well  as  at  subse- 
quent plenary  sittings. 


CONFEEENCE  OF  STATES  55 

8.  A  purely  formal  article  is  devoted  to  the  nomination 
of  the  Bureau  of  Officers  of  each  Conference.    It  repro- 
duces essentially  what  was  done  at  both  Peace  Confer- 
ences.    Concerning  one  question  nevertheless  we  propose 
a  change :  election  by  acclamation,  which  is  often  imposed, 
should  give  place  to  a  regular  election,  if  some  States  (we 
have  fixed  their  number  at  six)  demand  it.    We  have  also 
inserted  a  provision  tending  to  have  as  many  States  repre- 
sented in  the  Bureau  of  Officers  as  possible.    This  was 
not  often  the  case  in  most  diplomatic  assemblies  because 
it  was  necessary  to  appoint  titulary  secretaries  knowing 
the  local  conditions  under  which  the  work  was  to  be  per- 
formed.   But  by  the  fact  that  a  Permanent  International 
Secretaryship  will  be  organized,  the  execution  of  the  ma- 
terial side  of  the  proceedings  will  be  secured  and  the 
titular  secretaries  will  have  only  the  task  of  directing  and 
controlling  the  work.    The  Bureau  may  therefore  be 
rendered  as  representative  as  possible  without  disadvan- 
tage. 

33.  At  the  time  of  the  opening  session,  the  Conference 
shall  proceed,  by  acclamation  or  by  secret  ballot  if  it  is 
demanded  by  at  least  six  States,  to  the  appointment  of  its 
Bureau  composed  of  a  President,  two  Vice-Presidents,  two 
general  Secretaries  and  as  many  Secretaries  as  there  shall 
be  Commissions.  Each  State  shall  be  represented  in  the 
Bureau  by  not  more  than  one  member. 

9.  Once  the  Bureau  is  constituted,  the  Conference  will 
have  to  organize  for  business.    When  the  second  Peace 
Conference  met,  regulations  were  voted,  formulating  and 
completing  the  rules  adopted  in  1899.     Such  regulations 
could  be  made  permanent,   but   could   be   altered   and 
amended  at  each  session  on  the  proposition  of  a  certain 
number  of  States. 

However,  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  concerning  two 


56  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

questions  the  States  ought  to  bind  themselves  more  defin- 
itively. It  is  necessary,  first,  that  the  direction  of  the 
proceedings  in  the  Commissions,  where  the  most  ex- 
haustive debates  will  evidently  take  place,  should  not  be 
left  to  themselves,  but  should  be  settled  by  the  Conference 
itself.  Secondly,  the  discussions,  in  plenary  sittings  and 
in  Commissions,  will  henceforth  be  of  such  an  impor- 
tance that  short  summaries  will  no  longer  be  satisfactory. 
It  is  necessary  that  the  debates  should  be  published  in 
their  entirety  and  be  immediately  brought  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  public  and  the  press.  To  facilitate  the  latter 
task  and  to  avoid  colored  reports,  it  would  be  wise  to 
organize,  in  addition  to  the  shorthand  service,  a  service 
of  analytical  reporting,  like  some  excellent  ones  that  ex- 
ist in  certain  parliaments,  as  that  of  Belgium.  The 
telegraphic  agencies  would  be  invited  to  forward  these 
analytical  summaries  and,  in  case  they  should  refuse,  the 
States  should  combine  to  secure  for  them  the  widest  and 
quickest  transmission  possible.  The  most  complete  pub- 
licity should  be  given  in  the  future  to  the  work  done  by 
the  Conference  of  States.  When  the  first  Peace  Confer- 
ence met  secrecy  was  maintained  both  for  the  plenary 
sittings  and  for  the  sittings  of  the  Commissions,  but  the 
press  was  able  to  publish  information  of  the  most  as- 
tounding accuracy.  In  the  course  of  the  second  Peace 
Conference  the  plenary  sessions  were  open  to  the  public 
and  the  proceedings  of  the  Commissions  no  longer  took 
place  in  so  strict  a  secrecy  as  in  1899.  The  time  has  come 
when  the  interests  of  the  world  ought  to  be  discussed 
with  full  knowledge  of  everybody,  as  national  interests 
are  within  all  democratic  States. 

34.  The  Conference,  on  the  proposition  of  the  Bureau, 
determines  the  number  of  the  Commissions  and  appoints 
their  Presidents,  Vice-Presidents  and  Secretaries. 

A  project  of  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  its  proceed- 


CONFERENCE  OF  STATES  57 

ings  shall  be  presented  by  the  Bureau  for  adoption  by  the 
Conference.  These  regulations  shall  include  provisions  to 
secure  instant,  complete  and  analytic  publication  of  the  de- 
bates of  the  plenary  sessions,  as  well  as  of  Commission  ses- 
sions. 

10.  The  better  to  indicate  the  contractual  character  of 
international  law,  we  deem  it  necessary  to  establish  the 
forms  to  be  given  to  its  decisions  by  the  Conference  of 
States.  The  provision  concerning  this  question  confirms 
a  traditional  diplomatic  practice. 

But  a  much  more  important  question  is  closely  related 
with  the  problem  here  investigated.  It  must  be  decided 
whether  the  Conference  of  States  should  persevere  in 
its  devotion  to  what  I  dared  once  to  call  the  fetish  of 
unanimity.  Respect  for  this  unanimity  was  the  reason 
why  compulsory  arbitration  was  defeated  at  the  two 
Peace  Conferences  of  1899  and  1907.  During  the  first  of 
these  assemblies  it  was  in  fact  the  veto  of  Germany,  with- 
out really  serious  motives,  which  caused  this  check. 
Never  was  sic  volo  sic  jubeo  more  peremptorily  pro- 
claimed, notwithstanding  the  diplomatic  forms  in  which 
the  Teutonic  delegate  wrapped  the  opposition  of  the  im- 
perial government.  During  the  second  of  these  assem- 
blies, it  was  again  Germany  which  entrenched  herself  be- 
hind juridical  quibbles  of  an  uncommon  subtlety  and  espe- 
cially of  an  uncommon  cleverness.  She  succeeded  in 
rallying  to  her  opinion,  besides  Austria-Hungary  and 
Turkey,  Greece  and  Rumania. 

One  of  the  American  delegates  could  not  refrain  from 
expressing  his  feelings  and  we  deem  it  useful  to  reprint 
the  essential  passages  of  his  speech  concerning  more  di- 
rectly the  question  here  considered :  ' '  Assuredly,  I  pay 
all  respect  to  the  minority,  but  I  have  no  doubt  of  the 
rights  of  the  majority.  I  mean  such  a  majority  as  has 
established  this  proposition, — the  proposition  for  an 


58  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

obligatory  agreement  into  which  those  of  the  nations  may 
enter  who  desire  to  do  so,  and  the  rest  may  abstain  until 
each  desires  to  come  in.  You  will  search  in  vain  the 
records  of  the  first  Conference  and  of  this  Conference, 
and  the  correspondence  that  preceded  both,  for  any  asser- 
tion of  this  fatal  claim  of  the  necessity  of  absolute  unanim- 
ity in  order  to  secure  for  any  act  or  convention  a  place 
in  the  Final  Act  of  the  Conference.  And  the  proof  on 
the  records  is  clear  to  the  contrary.  Such  a  rule  would 
paralyze  the  will  and  the  action  of  the  Conference  at  the 
behest  of  one  power,  even  the  smallest,  and  even  though 
it  should  dissent  for  the  mere  purpose  of  destroying  the 
unanimity. '  ' 

Then,  after  some  objections  had  been  made,  he  added : 
11  It  has  been  said  by  the  eminent  president  of  the  Con- 
ference that  my  proposition  would  impose  the  will  of  the 
majority  upon  the  minority.  That,  gentlemen,  is  a  clear 
misapprehension.  I  made  no  such  claim.  The  claim  is, 
that  when  the  vast  majority  of  the  Conference  desires  to 
establish  the  agreement  for  obligatory  arbitration  for 
those  who  will  to  enter  in,  and  those  who  will  not  to  stay 
out,  they  have  the  right  to  do  so,  and  to  do  it  under  .  .  . 
the  flag  of  the  Conference. ' ' 

In  our  opinion,  the  last  words  of  this  declaration  are 
to  be  stricken  out,  but,  this  excepted,  the  reasoning  is  un- 
assailable. There  is  no  doubt  that  the  States  which  are 
free  to  enter  an  agreement  as  they  please  can  not  be  pre- 
vented from  doing  so  because  such  an  agreement  was 
not  unanimously  approved  by  the  members  of  a  Con- 
ference of  States.  Their  right  remains  entire  and  they 
may  exercise  it  at  their  pleasure,  even  during  the  session 
in  which  the  said  agreement  was  defeated.  Evidently, 
in  a  diplomatic  gathering,  the  majority  can  not  impose 
its  will  on  a  minority,  but  the  minority  may  still  less 
paralyze  the  majority  and  limit  by  its  opposition  the 


CONFEEENCE  OF  STATES  59 

sovereignty  of  the  States  which  form  this  majority.4  In 
order  to  avoid  equivocation,  we  think  that  it  is  necessary, 
by  a  formal  provision,  to  proclaim  in  definite  terms  the 
solution  which  should  prevail. 

35.  The  resolutions  of  the  Conference  are  taken  in  the 
form  of  conventions  and  declarations.  It  may  also  express 
wishes. 

The  unanimous  adoption  of  a  convention  by  the  States 
represented  shall  incorporate  its  provisions  into  positive  in- 
ternational law. 

It  shall,  however,  be  allowed  to  a  majority  of  States  to 
conclude  between  themselves,  during  the  reunion  of  a  Con- 
ference, a  convention  which  has  not  obtained  a  unanimous 
assent.  Such  a  convention  shall  always  be  open  to  the  sub- 
sequent adhesion  of  the  dissenting  States. 

11.  When  both  Peace  Conferences  met  at  The  Hague, 
the  government  of  the  Netherlands  had  to  support  the 
burden  of  their  material  organization  and  it  was  made 
the  depository  for  the  adopted  conventions.  We  are  of 
the  opinion  that,  with  respect  to  the  system  advocated 
by  us  of  frequent  and  itinerant  sessions  of  the  Confer- 
ence of  States,  it  is  necessary  that  it  should  be  attended 
by  a  permanent  body,  maintained  at  common  cost  by  the 
various  governments.  The  Permanent  International 
Secretaryship  we  propose  to  create  will  be  for  the  Con- 
ference of  States  what  the  International  Court  Office  will 
be  for  the  International  Judicature.  Its  functions  are 
defined  in  a  special  article  whose  text  does  not  require 
explanations. 

However,  we  deem  it  advisable  to  notice  that  the  Secre- 

4  The  Interparliamentary  Union,  in  its  session  at  Berlin  in  1008,  pave  its 
adhesion  to  this  opinion  by  inviting  the  States,  whose  delegates  acquiesced 
in  the  projected  treaty  of  compulsory  arbitration  submitted  to  the  second 
Peace  Conference,  to  transform  this  treaty  into  a  definitive  one  at  the 
earliest  moment — Interparlementaritche  Union,  XV  Conferenz,  pp.  141-143. 


60  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

taryship  could  become  the  depository  of  all  conventions 
agreed  upon  by  the  States  and  that  it  could  look  after  the 
publication  of  an  International  and  Official  Collection  of 
Treaties,  a  publication  long  demanded  by  all  those  inter- 
ested in  international  law. 

Among  the  resolutions  to  be  indorsed  by  one  of  the 
next  Conferences  of  States  one  will  certainly  tend  to  in- 
trust the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship  with 
the  publication  of  an  International  Official  Record  in 
order  to  give  notice  of  all  the  acts  performed  by  the  vari- 
ous international  organizations  as  well  as  the  legislative 
and  administrative  measures  of  an  international  bearing 
taken  by  the  various  States. 

36.  There  shall  be  instituted  at  common  cost  by  the  States 
at  The  Hague  a  Permanent   International   Secretaryship. 
This  Secretaryship  shall  have  the  mission  of  preserving  the 
original  conventions  adopted  by  the  various  Conferences; 
of  receiving  and  publishing  ratifications,  adhesions  and  de- 
nunciations of  these  conventions;  of  registering  preliminary 
propositions  made  by  the   States  or  by  their  Permanent 
National  Committees ;  of  arranging  material  preparation  for 
the  proceedings  of  each  Conference  and  of  the  International 
Preparatory  Committee.     It  may  in  addition  be  intrusted 
by  the  various  Conferences  with  the  execution  of  the  de- 
cisions taken.     It  shall  also  look  after  the  complete  and 
analytical  publication  of  their  proceedings. 

37.  The  Permanent  International  Secretaryship  is  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  International  Administrative  Coun- 
cil, which  will  appoint  its  personnel,  fix  its  annual  budget 
and  formulate  its  organic  regulations.     Its  budget  will  in- 
clude the  expenses  required  for  the  sessions  of  the  Inter- 
national Preparatory  Committee. 

12.  In  the  next  provisions  we  have  tried  to  co-ordinate 
the  suggestions  made  concerning  the  preparation  of  the 


CONFERENCE  OF  STATES  61 

proceedings  of  the  Conference  of  States.  This  prepara- 
tion will  evidently  be  dual:  it  will  be  national  and  inter- 
national. It  is  difficult  to  make  international  prepara- 
tion permanent :  first,  because  this  would  require  the  un- 
interrupted presence  of  personages  of  high  estate  who 
can  not  be  easily  diverted  from  the  important  duties  they 
are  fulfilling  in  their  own  countries;  and,  secondly,  be- 
cause their  work  would  be  at  each  moment  interrupted 
by  the  instructions  they  would  be  obliged  to  request  from 
their  respective  governments.  It  is  necessary  that  each 
of  these  personages,  before  their  meeting,  should  study 
at  home  the  questions  to  be  solved,  remaining  in  contact 
with  their  colleagues  and  exchanging  regularly  the  con- 
clusions and  resolutions  to  which  their  respective  studies 
have  led  them. 

In  our  opinion,  the  period  between  two  successive  Con- 
ferences should  be  divided  in  two  parts,  one  more  espe- 
cially national,  another  more  especially  international. 
It  is  obvious,  however,  that  the  National  Committees 
could  proceed  with  their  sittings  during  the  session  of 
the  International  Committee  and  remain  in  relation  with 
it ;  it  is  on  this  account  that  we  have  said  that  the  National 
Committees  are  permanent. 

38.  The  States  pledge  themselves  to  constitute  Perma- 
nent National  Committees  intrusted  with  the  prosecution 
and  the  promotion  of  researches  and  studies  concerning  the 
questions  to  be  placed  on  the  order  of  the  day  of  the  future 
Conferences.     The  results  realized  by  these  committees  or 
through  their  intervention  shall  be  communicated  by  each 
State,  to  all  the  other  States,  as  well  as  to  the  Permanent 
International  Secretaryship,  at  least  one  year  before  the 
meeting  of  the  next  Conference. 

39.  The  International  Preparatory  Committee  meets  at 
least  one  year  before  the  opening  of  each  Conference  in 


62  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

order  to  examine  the  various  propositions  made  by  the 
States,  to  co-ordinate  and  harmonize  them.  This  Com- 
mittee is  composed  of  delegates  appointed,  one  for  each 
State,  from  the  members  of  their  Permanent  National  Com- 
mittees. This  choice  shall  be  made  by  the  States  as  soon 
as  they  shall  have  appointed  their  National  Committees,  and 
shall  be  notified  to  the  Permanent  International  Secretary- 
ship, which  shall  draw  up  a  list  to  be  transmitted  to  all 
of  the  States  and  to  the  members  of  the  International  Com- 
mittee. It  shall  invite  them  to  come  immediately  into  touch 
with  one  another  through  it. 

40.  The  International  Preparatory  Committee  shall  itself 
formulate  its  organic  regulations.  The  traveling  expenses 
of  each  of  its  members  shall  be  at  the  charge  of  the  State 
which  appointed  them. 

The  General  Report  to  be  made  by  the  Committee  shall  be 
prepared,  printed  and  forwarded  to  each  State,  six  months 
at  least  before  each  Conference,  through  the  diplomatic 
agents  accredited  to  the  government  of  the  Netherlands.  It 
will  be  forwarded  by  registered  mail  to  the  States  which  are 
not  represented  near  this  government. 

13.  An  important  question  was  settled  by  the  second 
Peace  Conference  in  opposition  to  the  decision  taken  by 
the  first  one,  namely,  the  right  of  initiative.  Conformably 
to  the  regulations  adopted  at  its  second  plenary  sitting, 
the  Conference  of  1899  declared  "that  outside  of  the  ques- 
tions mentioned  [in  the  Russian  circular  of  30th  Decem- 
ber, 1898],  it  could  not  consider  itself  as  competent  for 
the  investigation  of  any  other  question  and  that  in  a 
doubtful  case  it  would  have  to  decide  if  such  or  such 
proposition,  made  in  the  Commissions,  could  or  could  not 
be  considered  as  being  within  the  prepared  pro- 
gramme. ' ' 5  This  solution  is  consistent  with  the  diplo- 
matic practice  which  forbids  plenipotentiaries  to  deviate 

5  Conference  Internationale  de  la  Paix,  1899.     Premifere  partie,  p.  14. 


CONFEEENCE  OF  STATES  63 

from  their  mandate.  But  the  force  of  circumstances  was 
stronger  than  a  traditional  habit.  In  spite  of  this,  the 
Conference  of  States,  without  being  a  true  parliament, 
possesses  some  of  the  characteristics  of  a  legislative  body 
and  ought  to  benefit  by  some  of  its  privileges.  And  so  it 
happened  that,  without  discussion,  by  a  tacit  acquies- 
cence, the  right  of  initiative  for  the  missions  was  ac- 
knowledged in  fact.  In  the  course  of  the  second  plenary 
sitting  of  the  second  Peace  Conference  the  delegations 
of  Germany,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  of 
America  presented  new  propositions.  The  British  dele- 
gation in  the  letter  sent  to  the  President  of  the  Confer- 
ence inserted  this  phrase:  "The  delegates  of  Great 
Britain  consider  that  the  adoption  of  the  programme  of 
work,  which  is  to  be  studied  by  the  Commissions  of  the 
Conference,  does  not  exclude  the  possibility  of  placing 
on  the  order  of  the  day  other  subjects  which  might  be 
submitted  during  the  Conference."  After  this  declara- 
tion was  read,  the  President  ascertained  that  no  observa- 
tion was  forthcoming  and  announced  unanimous  acquies- 
cence therein. 

We  think  that  this  resolution  should  be  made  definitive 
by  a  formal  text.  We  propose  in  addition  to  give  a  right 
of  initiative  to  the  International  Preparatory  Committee. 
With  numerous  propositions  drafted  by  the  various 
Permanent  National  Committees  before  it,  its  task  will  be 
to  consider  those  propositions  from  a  more  synthetic 
point  of  view,  to  complete  them  by  new  propositions,  and 
make  them  more  effective ;  it  would  be  harmful  to  impede 
its  mission  by  too  much  formality. 

41.  The  right  of  initiative  belongs  to  each  of  the  missions 
which  takes  part  in  a  Conference.  This  right  is  exercised  by 
them  at  any  plenary  sitting,  which  will  take  under  considera- 
tion the  propositions  made  and  shall  decide  if  they  ought  to 
be  referred  to  one  of  the  Commissions,  to  the  International 


64  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

Preparatory  Committee  for  immediate  report,  or  to  the  next 
Conference. 

The  International  Preparatory  Committee  while  in  session 
also  enjoys  the  right  of  initiative  and  shall  include  its  prop- 
ositions in  its  General  Report. 

14.  In  view  of  the  considerable  work  to  be  accomplished 
by  the  Conference  of  States,  it  seems  necessary  to  rein- 
force the  editing  Commission,  organized  by  both  Peace 
Conferences,  by  a  permanent  element.    It  is  very  impor- 
tant that  the  various  conventions  agreed  upon  should 
contradict  each  other  as  little  as  possible  and  that  their 
texts  should  be  in  harmony.     The  editing  Commission  to 
be  chosen  for  each  session  will  not  have  a  task  as  dim- 
cult  as  those  of  1899  and  1907,  for  the  International 
Preparatory  Committee  will  have  taken  care  that  the  texts 
submitted  to  the  Conference  of  States  are  as  well  drafted 
as  possible;  but  it  is  to  be  feared,  if  the  revision  of  the 
adopted  conventions  should  be  intrusted  to  the  Inter- 
national Preparatory  Committee  alone,  that  it  would  try 
to  make  its  opinion  prevail  over  the  opinion  of  the  Con- 
ference of  States.    By  adding  to  it  a  delegation  of  the 
Conference,  this  drawback  will  be  avoided  and  there  will 
have  been  created  an  agency  capable  of  rendering  the 
most  important  services. 

42.  The  International  Preparatory  Committee  shall  form 
with  the  editing  Commission  of  each  Conference  a  Con- 
sultative Council  of  Codification.  This  Council  shall  espe- 
cially fulfill  the  mission  of  co-ordinating  the  texts  of  the  vari- 
ous Conventions  and  of  embodying  them  in  the  body  of 
provisions  which  the  States  shall  have  agreed  upon  during 
the  successive  Conferences. 

15.  A  last  question  is  to  be  considered,  the  right  of 
petition.     Should  the  peoples  remain  indifferent  to  the 


CONFEEENCE  OF  STATES  65 

work  accomplished  by  the  Conference  of  States,  while 
this  body  is  discussing  the  highest  interests  of  humanity? 
They  could  not  make  up  their  minds  to  adopt  such  an  atti- 
tude. These  highest  interests  have  found  their  expres- 
sion in  numerous  free  organizations;  the  international 
needs  of  men  have  induced  them  to  come  into  closer  rela- 
tions despite  frontiers  and  to  unite  in  order  the  better  to 
satisfy  these  needs.  It  is  natural  that  they  will  appeal 
to  the  Conference  of  States  and  try  to  obtain  its  aid;  it 
seems  right  to  allow  them  to  transmit  their  wishes  to  the 
Conference  and  submit  to  it  the  best  means  of  realizing 
them. 

It  would  not  be  fortunate,  however,  to  see  the  Confer- 
ence of  States  assailed  by  innumerable  propositions,  undi- 
gested improvizations  of  venturesome  spirits.  It  is 
necessary  that  the  projects  submitted  to  the  high  assembly 
should  be  carefully  studied  and  presented  to  it  under 
the  aegis  of  serious  groups.  In  our  opinion  the  right  of 
petition  should  be  exercised  only  by  International  Asso- 
ciations legally  constituted.  This  restriction  would  have 
a  great  advantage,  because  it  would  compel  men  wanting 
to  make  propositions  to  discuss  them  with  others,  to  come 
together,  and  especially  to  think  internationally.  Now 
all  the  fundamental  reforms  in  the  pact,  whose  provisions 
we  are  endeavoring  to  draft,  will  only  be  fruitful  if  they 
are  imbued  with  an  international  spirit.  This  spirit 
ought  to  penetrate  everywhere.  It  is  necessary  that  in- 
dividuals feel  themselves  not  only  members  of  a  family, 
of  a  city,  of  a  nation,  but  also,  and  mainly,  citizens  of  the 
world.  The  obligation  for  every  man,  desiring  to  im- 
prove his  condition  and  the  condition  of  those  surround- 
ing him,  to  consider  from  a  universal  point  of  view  the 
problems  which  interest  him,  will  widen  his  horizon  and 
transform  him  into  a  useful  and  active  element  of  inter- 
national public  opinion ;  and  he  will  thus  furnish  a  neces- 


66  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

sary  support  to  those  who,  within  the  Conference  of 
States,  try  to  promote,  facilitate  and  develop  collabora- 
tion and  understanding  between  all  peoples  of  the  earth. 

43.  A  right  of  petition  is  granted  to  International  Associa- 
tions enjoying  a  legal  status  for  all  matters  susceptible  of 
legislative  unification  or  for  conventional  juridical  or  admin- 
istrative provisions.  This  right  of  petition  shall  be  exercised 
through  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship. 

The  petitions  shall  be  transmitted  for  advice  to  the  In- 
ternational Preparatory  Committee.  Report  shall  be  made 
to  each  Conference  at  a  plenary  sitting  on  each  petition  and 
on  the  action  which  it  is  proposed  to  the  Conference  to  take 
on  it. 

The  final  paragraph  of  this  article  is  especially  impor- 
tant. It  is  indeed  indispensable,  if  the  action  of  the  Inter- 
national Associations  is  to  be  effective,  that  all  petitions 
should  have  full  publicity  and  that  the  Conference  of 
States,  with  the  full  knowledge  of  the  promoters  and  the 
public,  should  act  regarding  them  after  an  eventual  dis- 
cussion in  plenary  sitting.  There  should  be  no  occult  in- 
fluences capable  of  throwing  out  propositions  whose  tend- 
encies might  displease  certain  States.  The  Conference 
of  States  ought  to  be  an  open  and  public  tribune  for  all 
ideas  tending  to  improve  and  intensify  international  life. 


CHAPTER  IV 
JUDICIAL  ORGANIZATION 

1.  IN  this  part  of  our  project  we  have  tried  to  lay  down 
the  main  lines  of  an  international  judicial  organization 
sufficiently  adaptable  and  detailed  to  secure  the  full  ob- 
servance of  the  principle  proclaimed  above  that  *  *  all  con- 
flicts between  States  shall  be  settled  in  an  amicable  or 
contentious  manner." 

It  is  toward  this  goal  that  the  efforts  of  the  Universal 
Peace  Congresses,  the  Interparliamentary  Union,  and  the 
Institute  of  International  Law  have  been  directed  for  a 
long  time.  In  the  United  States  of  America  a  powerful 
association  has  been  formed  which  is  exclusively  devoted 
to  the  study  of  the  judicial  settlement  of  international 
disputes.1  The  two  Peace  Conferences,  by  creating  the 
Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration  and  the  International 
Prize  Court  and  by  elaborating  a  project  for  a  Court  of 
Arbitral  Justice,  endeavored  to  solve  the  problem,  but 
could  only  very  imperfectly  reach  a  partial  solution.  The 
debates,  which  took  place  on  these  various  institutions, 
constitute  a  huge  library  in  which  the  most  valuable  in- 
formation can  be  gathered.  Taking  into  account  these 
discussions,  we  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that,  in  a 
general  pact,  it  was  only  needed  to  include  some  essential 
provisions  as  a  basis  for  a  complementary  organic  con- 
vention. In  such  a  convention  the  technical  details  can 

*  In  this  same  country  two  other  organizations  exist,  the  World  Peace 
Foundation  and  the  Carnegie  Endowment  for  International  Peace  with 
similar  aims,  but  covering  a  broader  field.  There  was  also  founded  a 
World  Court  League. 

67 


68  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

be  worked  out  in  order  to  secure  the  regular  development 
of  the  international  judicial  institutions. 

2.  A  first  article  affirms  the  necessity  of  a  judicial 
organization  and  determines  both  its  conciliatory  and 
suit-deciding  character.     A  second  article  enumerates  the 
various  jurisdictions,  as  well  amicable  as  arbitral  or  con- 
tentious.    The  idea  which  inspired  us  is  that  all  the 
methods  designed  to  settle  disputes  are  judicial  in  a  cer- 
tain degree.    While  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  task 
of  elucidating  or  ending  a  dispute  may  call  upon  good 
sense,  morals,  equity  or  right,  nevertheless  they  judge 
more  or  less  strictly  according  to  a  criterion,  and  they 
judge  even  if  they  pronounce  neither  sentence  nor  judg- 
ment.    Therefore  we  have  established  three  jurisdictions : 
amicable  jurisdiction   (good  offices  or  mediation,  occa- 
sional or  permanent  commissions  of  inquiry,  council  of 
conciliation),  voluntary  or  arbitral  jurisdiction,  and  con- 
tentious jurisdiction.     The  complete  domain  of  interna- 
tional disputes  is  in  this  way  covered  and  looked  at  as  a 
whole. 

44.  In  order  to  secure  the  peaceful  settlement  of  interna- 
tional disputes,  the  States  established  an  international  judi- 
cial organization.     This  organization  includes  a  triple  juris- 
diction, amicable,  arbitral  and  contentious. 

45.  Amicable    jurisdiction    includes    Good    Offices    and 
Mediation,  the  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  and 
the  International   Council  of  Conciliation.     There  are   es- 
tablished a  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration  and  an  Interna- 
tional Court  of  Justice. 

3.  In  the  last  years,  jurists  have  asked  whether  the 
competence  of  the  various  jurisdictions  should  remain 
limited  only  to  disputes  between  States  or  whether  it 


JUDICIAL  ORGANIZATION  69 

would  not  be  more  logical  to  submit  to  them  other  inter- 
national differences,  such  as  those  occurring  between  a 
State  and  a  citizen  of  another  State  concerning  the  execu- 
tion of  a  contract  between  them  or  those  between  citizens 
of  two  States  concerning  a  question  of  private  interna- 
tional law.  Nearly  all  jurists  have  advocated  this  en- 
larged competence.  Besides,  several  arbitral  tribunals 
have  been  established  by  the  States  concerning  difficulties 
about  enterprises  or  concessions  granted  to  a  private  per- 
son by  a  foreign  State.  Others  have  advocated  the  crea- 
tion of  a  Court  of  Cassation  or  of  Appeal  for  the  inter- 
pretation of  international  conventions  on  civil  or  com- 
mercial private  law.  We  have  taken  these  precedents  and 
opinions  into  account  in  drafting  the  following  article. 

46.  Considered  as  international  disputes  are  those  which 
occur  between  States,  between  States  and  citizens  of  other 
States,  and  between  citizens  of  two  or  more  States. 

The  States  reserve  the  right  to  submit  to  an  arbitral  or 
contentious  jurisdiction  the  disputes  of  the  two  last  classes 
only  in  case  of  appeal  or  cassation. 

The  last  paragraph  is  intended  to  avoid  hurting  the 
susceptibilities  of  certain  States  which  would  assent  only 
with  difficulty  to  the  removal  from  their  national  courts 
of  lawsuits  in  which  foreigners  are  interested.  It  will 
often  happen  that  those  courts  give  satisfaction  to  the 
contending  foreigners  and  that  consequently  recourse  to 
the  international  judicature  can  be  avoided. 

4.  In  view  of  the  numerous  jurisdictions  prepared  to 
settle  international  disputes,  it  has  been  asked  whether  it 
would  not  be  necessary  to  fix  the  order  in  which  recourse 
to  them  should  be  taken,  or  whether  it  would  not  be  better 
to  grant  to  the  States  the  faculty  of  selecting  the  jurisdic- 
tional  modes  they  prefer.  We  have  subscribed  to  this 
latter  opinion. 


70  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

47.  The  States  may,  by  a  general  or  special  stipulation, 
agree  to  which  of  the  various  jurisdictional  modes  they  wish 
to  give  preference. 

5.  But   in  case   the   States    should   not   agree,   it   is 
necessary  that  a  plaintiff  State  should  not  be  foreclosed 
of  its  right  of  suing  a  defendant  State,  recalcitrant  or 
negligent.    It  is  necessary  that  a  special  procedure  should 
permit  putting  an  end  to  such  a  situation;  it  would  be, 
in  international  law,  the  institution  of  a  procedure  by  de- 
fault.    The  article  devoted  to  this  question  affirms  only 
the  principle.     Special  provisions  in  the  organic  conven- 
tion of  the  International  Judicature  will  secure  its  appli- 
cation. 

48.  When  contending  States  are  unable  to  agree  upon  a 
special  jurisdictional  mode,  there  will  be  secured  to  the  most 
diligent  State  a  mode  of  procedure  in  order  to  submit  the 
dispute  to  the  jurisdiction  of  its  choice. 

6.  The  fact  that  citizens  of  the  States  may  appeal  to 
the  International  Judicature  makes  it  necessary  to  fix 
the  modes  of  recourse  open  to  them.    It  is  obvious  that 
the  contentious  jurisdiction  alone  is  normally  competent 
for  the  differences  between  a  State  and  the  citizen  of  an- 
other State  or  between  the  citizens  of  two  or  more  States. 
However,  in  case  a  State  should  take  over  and  make  the 
cause  of  its  citizen  against  another  State  its  own  there 
would  be  no  objection  to  submitting  the  difference,  as  has 
often  been  done,  to  an  arbitral  tribunal,  but  on  such  a 
hypothesis  the  citizen  alone  could  not  act  on  his  own 
authority. 

49.  Access  to  the  amicable  and  the  arbitral  jurisdictions 
is  open  only  to  the  States.     Access  to  the  contentious  juris- 
diction is  open  to  the  States  and  their  citizens. 


JUDICIAL  ORGANIZATION  71 

7.  In  the  convention,  agreed  upon  in  1899  and  amended 
in  1907,  for  the  Pacific  Settlement  of  International  Dis- 
putes, there  is  a  provision  (Art.  48)  allowing  the  States 
to  interfere  when  a  dispute  arises  and  to  remind  the  con- 
tending parties  that  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration 
is  open  to  them.    We  think  it  useful  to  maintain  this  pro- 
vision but  to  apply  it  to  all  the  jurisdictional  modes. 

50.  The  States  consider  it  their  duty,  if  an  acute  conflict 
threatens  to  arise  between  two  or  more  of  them,  to  remind 
such   States  that  the  International  Judicature  is  open  to 
them.     The  fact  of  so  reminding  the  States  at  variance  can 
only  be  regarded  as  in  the  nature  of  good  offices. 

Such  a  reminder  will  have  the  more  value  because,  the 
States  having  pledged  themselves  to  settle  all  their  dis- 
putes in  an  amicable  or  contentious  manner,  the  Society 
of  States  would  have  the  right  to  constrain  them  to  re- 
spect the  obligation  taken. 

8.  What  will  be  the  law  which  the  various  jurisdictions 
may  call  upon  to  settle  the  disputes  submitted  to  them? 
A  provision  in  the  convention  concerning  the  Interna- 
tional Prize  Court  completely  answers  this  question  and 
we  can  scarcely  do  better  than  to  reprint  it  here. 

51.  If  a  question  of  law  to  be  decided  is  covered  by  a  con- 
vention in  force  between  the  States  which  are  themselves 
or  whose  subjects  or  citizens  are  parties  to  the  proceedings, 
the  competent  jurisdiction  is  to  be  governed  by  the  provi- 
sions of  the  said  convention.     Otherwise  it  shall  apply  the 
rules  of  international  law.     If  no  generally  recognized  rules 
exist,  the  competent  jurisdiction  shall  give  judgment  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  general  principles  of  justice  and  equity. 

9.  As  a  consequence  of  their  pledge  to  settle  all  their 
disputes  in  an  amicable  or  contentious  manner,  the  States 


72  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

are  obliged  to  abide  by  the  decisions  given.  This  conse- 
quence was  twice  included  in  the  conventions  adopted  by 
the  Peace  Conferences,  namely,  in  those  concerning  the 
Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration  and  the  International 
Prize  Court.  Despite  its  obvious  character  we  think  it 
useful  to  formulate  it  in  explicit  terms. 

52.  The  States  pledge  themselves  to  submit  in  good  faith 
to  the  decisions  of  the  competent  jurisdictions  and  to  carry 
them  out  with  the  least  possible  delay. 

10.  The   question   of  the   seat   of   the   International 
Judicature  ought  also  to  be  the  subject  of  a  special  pro- 
vision.    Just  as  it  is  important  that  the  Conference  of 
States  should  be  itinerant,  it  is  needful  to  establish  the 
International  Judicature  in  a  place  where  it  may  escape 
from  dangerous  influences.    It  could  move  only  in  cases 
of  unforeseen  circumstances  or  with  the  consent  of  the 
States,  but  even  in  this  last  hypothesis  grave  motives 
should  exist  to  render  a  removal  admissible.    Not  only 
might  the  interests  of  the  States  directly  involved  be 
exposed,  but  the  superior  interests  of  justice  might  be 
endangered. 

53.  The   International   Judicature   has    its    seat   at   The 
Hague.     The  International  Court  of  Justice  and  the  Interna- 
tional Council  of  Conciliation  cannot  transfer  their  seat  else- 
where except  in  circumstances  beyond  their  control. 

The  States,  however,  reserve  the  right  to  fix  elsewhere 
the  seat  of  a  Commission  of  Inquiry  or  of  an  Arbitral 
Tribunal,  if  special  circumstances  render  such  a  step  neces- 
sary. The  seat  once  fixed  may  not,  except  in  circumstances 
beyond  their  control,  be  transferred  elsewhere  by  the  com- 
missioners or  the  arbitrators  without  the  consent  of  the 
parties. 

11.  The  necessity  of  creating  a  permanent  office  at  the 


JUDICIAL  ORGANIZATION  73 

seat  of  the  International  Judicature  was  acknowledged 
by  the  States  when  they  instituted  a  Bureau  at  the  seat  of 
the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration.  We  propose  to  en- 
large this  office  and  to  transform  it  into  an  International 
Court  Office  for  the  needs  of  all  the  jurisdictions  which 
are  or  may  be  established. 

54.  There  is  created  at  the  seat  of  the  International  Judica- 
ture an  International  Court  Office,  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  International  Administrative  Council,  which  appoints 
its  officers  and  employees,  determines  its  annual  budget  and 
formulates  its  organic  regulations. 

12.  In  the  conventions  relating  to  the  Court  of  Arbitral 
Justice  and  the  International  Prize  Court,  it  was  fore- 
seen that  delegations  should  be  appointed  to  fulfill  cer- 
tain definite  functions.    We  think  that  such  an  organiza- 
tion should  be  maintained  and  that  it  should  be  intrusted 
in  addition  with  the  mission  of  admitting  or  rejecting  ap- 
peals preferred  by  private  persons  against  decisions  of 
national  tribunals;  it  would  thus  fulfill  fhe  role  played 
by  the  Chamber  of  Requests  of  the  Court  of  Cassation  in 
France.    It  would  prevent  unconsidered  appeals  from 
being  submitted  to  the  International  Court  of  Justice. 

55.  A  Permanent  Judicial  Delegation  is  instituted,  made 
up  of  three  titular  and  three  substitute  judges,  chosen  an- 
nually from  and  by  the  International  Court  of  Justice  and 
intrusted  with  the  task  of  acting  in  cases  of  urgency  or  at 
the  request  of  the  parties,  as  well  as  on  the  admissibility  of 
appeals  by  private  persons  against  decisions  of  national 
tribunals. 

13.  It  is  likely  that  the  International  Judicature,  as  it 
is  here  constituted  and  as  a  complementary  convention 
will  organize  it,  will  show  the  imperfections  inherent  in 
all  human  institutions.    Who  could  better  than  the  high 


74  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

magistrates  permanently  established  at  The  Hague  deter- 
mine the  deficiencies  of  the  international  judicial  machin- 
ery and  point  out  the  improvements  to  be  introduced? 
Their  long  experience  and  their  high  moral  character  will 
give  to  their  advice  a  considerable  importance.  We  are 
of  the  opinion  that  it  is  wise  that  the  Society  of  States 
should  benefit  by  it. 

56.  The  International  Court  of  Justice  shall  meet  each 
year  in  General  Assembly  to  deliberate  on  improvements  to 
be  introduced  in  the  international  Judicial  Organization. 
The  propositions  drafted  by  it  shall  be  transmitted,  through 
the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship,  to  the  Interna- 
tional Preparatory  Committee  to  be  submitted  by  it  to  the 
next  Conference. 


1.  DURING  the  last  fifty  years  an  extensive  movement 
toward  a  concerted  international  administration  has  been 
going  on.  Actually  the  number  of  conventions,  agreed 
upon  to  this  end  by  the  States,  is  as  high  as  54  and  the 
number  of  international  standing  organizations  amounts 
to  19. 

They  have  strongly  intensified  international  life  by 
facilitating  the  transportation  of  persons  and  things,  by 
rendering  nearly  instantaneous  the  exchange  of  ideas 
and  news,  by  securing  the  protection  of  peoples  against 
epidemics,  calamities  and  death,  by  co-ordinating  scien- 
tific researches,  by  guaranteeing  respect  for  the  rights 
of  authors,  inventors  and  traders,  by  giving  to  an  ever- 
growing number  of  men  the  feeling  of  being  at  home  in 
all  parts  of  the  earth,  in  transforming  the  globe  into  the 
common  abode  of  men. 

This  fact,  of  so  wide-reaching  importance,  escapes  the 
consciousness  of  both  the  masses  and  the  elite.  It  ought 
to  be  made  tangible  and  to  acquire,  in  the  eyes  of  all,  its 
high  and  imperial  value.  This  fact  should,  in  the  public 
mind,  command  the  whole  world's  activity.  Collabora- 
tion by  the  peoples  has  expanded,  we  may  say,  in  spite  of 
them  and  in  full  ignorance;  it  should  in  the  future  be 
done,  willingly  and  with  a  growing  intensity.  The  States 
have  to  consolidate  their  work:  it  was  only  sporadic  and 
occasional,  it  must  become  intentional  and  organic.  On 
the  family  household  were  superposed,  in  the  course  of 

75 


76  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

the  centuries,  the  household  of  the  city  and  the  household 
of  the  nation ;  wonderful  institutions  were  born  out  of  the 
necessity  for  larger  and  larger  communities  to  meet  the 
needs  of  their  members.  The  time  has  come  to  place  the 
world  household  above  the  family,  urban  and  national 
households.  Would  it  really  be  too  heavy  a  task  for  the 
States  to  confirm  what  they  have  till  now  performed  to 
this  end  and  to  pledge  themselves  to  proceed  with  their 
common  endeavors  with  increased  energy  and  speed? 
This  is  the  aim  of  the  two  following  articles : 

57.  The  States  confirm  the  conventions  concluded  by  all 
or  several  of  them  with  the  aim  of  securing  their  collective 
collaboration  in  endeavors  and  services  of  international  in- 
terest, and  pledge  themselves  to  adhere  to  those  conventions 
which  they  have  not  already  signed. 

58.  The  States  shall  consult  together  with  the  object  of 
multiplying,  with  the  shortest  delay  possible,  similar  en- 
deavors and  services  in  all  domains  of  human  activity.     In 
the  elaboration  of  these  endeavors  and  services  a  special  ap- 
peal shall  be  made  for  the  collaboration  of  international 
organizations  of  private  initiative. 

2.  In  a  convention  of  general  character,  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  endeavors  and  services  realized  and  to  be 
realized  seems  more  likely  to  find  its  place  in  a  transitory 
provision.  This  will  be  done  for  the  more  pressing  ones 
(Art.  69).  We  think,  however,  that  it  is  needful  to  give 
here,  in  addition  to  the  list  of  the  conventions  actually 
agreed  upon  by  the  States  and  of  the  organizations  al- 
ready created  by  them,  the  list  of  the  organizations  and 
agreements  about  which  it  should  be  necessary  that  the 
States  come  to  an  understanding.  Such  an  enumeration 
will  give  a  more  accurate  idea  of  the  results  obtained  up 
to  the  present  and  of  the  huge  field  opened  to  interna- 
tional collaboration. 


INTERNATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION         77 

LIST  OF  REALIZED  AGREEMENTS  l 

1815      Regime  of  the  international  rivers. 
1851*     International  Sanitary  Union. 

1892      Maritime  and  Quarantine  Sanitary  Council  of 
Egypt. 

1894      Superior  Sanitary  Council  of  Constantinople. 

1894      International  Sanitary  Council  of  Tangier.2 

1907      International  Office  of  Public  Hygiene. 
1856      International  regime  of  the  Danube. 
1863*    Universal  Postal  Union. 

1864  Red  Cross  Convention. 

1864*    International  Geodetic  Association. 
1865*     Universal  Telegraphic  Union. 

1865  Latin  Monetary  Union. 

1865  Maintenance  of  the  Cape  Spartel  Lighthouse. 

1875  Scandinavian  Monetary  Union. 

1875*  International  Bureau  of  Weights  and  Measures. 

1878  Common  action  against  phylloxera. 

1878*  Transportation    of    Merchandise    by    Railroads 

(European). 

1880*  Publication  of  Customs  Tariffs. 

1880*  Protection  of  Industrial  Property. 

1880*  Protection  of  Artistic  and  Literary  Property. 

i  This  list  is  drawn  up  in  chronological  order  and  will  enable  the  reader 
to  get  a  good  idea  of  the  development  in  the  course  of  time  of  the  phenom- 
enon here  analyzed.  It  will  be  noticed  that  we  have  eliminated  all  agree- 
ments having  for  their  object  the  regulation  of  war,  which  recent  events 
hare  proved  useless. 

The  asterisk  indicates  that  the  States  have  created  an  office  or  a  bureau 
to  assure  the  execution  of  the  measures  adopted. 

*The  Tangier  sanitary  council  dates  in  fact  from  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Tangier  was  then  the  only  Mohammedan  port  on  the 
Mediterranean  open  to  Europeans  and  the  consuls  tried  to  control  there 
epidemics  due  to  contagion  among  the  passengers  on  vessels  bound  for 
Mecca.  In  1818  the  plague  followed  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  keep  a 
vessel  out  of  the  port.  As  a  result  Sultan  Abd  er  Rahman  organized  the 
council  with  the  aid  of  the  local  consuls. 


78  THE  GEEAT  SOLUTION 

1882  Protection  of  Submarine  Cables. 

1882  Fisheries  police  in  the  North  Sea. 

1882  Technical  Unity  of  Railroads  (European). 

1884  Selection  of  a  First  Meridian. 

1885  Exchange  of  Reproductions  of  Works  of  Art. 

1888  Regime  of  the  Suez  maritime  canal. 

1889  Regulation  of  Maritime  Navigation. 
1889*  Union  of  the  American  Republics. 

1890  Legal  Protection  of  Workers. 
1890*  Repression  of  the  Slave  Trade. 

1893  Unification  of  Private  International  Law. 

1898  Gauging  of  Nonseagoing  Vessels. 

1899*  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration. 

1899*  Exploration  of  the  Sea. 

1900  Protection  of  Wild  Animals  in  Africa. 

1900  Revision  of  the  Nomenclature  of  Causes  of  Death. 

1902  Protection  of  Insectivorous  Birds. 

1902*  International  Sugar  Union. 

1902*  Pan-American  Sanitary  Convention. 

1902  Unification  of  the  Formulas  of  Heroic  Medicines. 

1903*  International  Association  of  Seismology. 

1904  Repression  of  the  White  Slave  Trade. 

1905  Unification  of  Maritime  Law. 

1905*  International  Institute  of  Agriculture. 

1906*  Radiotelegraphic  Union. 

1906  Control  of  Spirituous  Liquors  in  Africa. 
1907*  Central  American  Union. 

1909  International    Committee    of   the    Map    of   the 

World. 

1909  Regulation  of  the  arms  trade  in  Africa. 

1909  Repression  of  the  Use  of  Opium. 

1909  Regulation  of  the  Use  of  Saccharine. 

1910  Repression  of  the  Circulation  of  Obscene  Publi- 

cations. 

1910  "Unification  of  Commercial  Statistics. 


INTERNATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION         79 

1911      South  American  Postal  Union. 

1911  Protection  of  Seals  and  Maritime  Otters. 

1912  International  Regulation  of  the  Hour. 

LIST  OF  AGREEMENTS  TO  BE  REALIZED  8 

1.  Foundation  of  an  international  bank. 

2.  Unification  of  weights,  measures  and  coins. 

3.  Organization  of  international  statistics. 

4.  Creation  of  international  institutes  of  commerce,  in- 

dustry, colonization,  etc. 

5.  International  organization  of  education. 

6.  Internationalization  of  terrestrial  and  maritime  ways 

of  communication. 

7.  International  protection  of  the  natural  resources  of 

the  globe. 

8.  International  protection  of  intellectual  culture. 

a.  Concerted  scientific  researches. 

b.  Exchange  of  professors  and  students. 

c.  Development  of  exchange  services. 

d.  Publication  of  an  international  encyclopedia. 

e.  International  bibliographic  organization. 

9.  Regulation  of  aerial  circulation. 

10.  Codification  of  public  and  private  international  law. 

3.  Some  words  of  explanation  are  necessary  to  justify 
the  final  paragraph  of  the  above  article  by  which  the 
States  would  pledge  themselves  to  appeal  to  the  collab- 
oration of  international  organizations  privately  initia- 
ted. These  organizations  represent  more  particularly 

*  In  the  list  here  drafted  we  have  tried  to  limit  our  propositions  to 
measures  and  projects  which  have  already  obtained  the  adhesion  of  im- 
portant personages  or  groups.  It  should  also  be  noticed  that  under  one 
rubric  several  questions  are  often  implicitly  included.  The  international 
organization  of  education,  for  instance,  includes  the  creation  of  a  pedagogic 
center,  the  foundation  of  an  international  university  and  the  equivalence  of 
diplomas. 


80  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

the  international  aspirations  of  the  peoples  and  they 
have  imposed  on  themselves  the  task  of  studying  each  of 
the  endeavors  or  reforms  to  be  realized.  It  is  to  be  no- 
ticed that  the  origin  of  nearly  all  the  conventions  now  in 
force  can  be  ascribed  to  the  disinterested  efforts  of  one 
or  another  group  of  men  imbued  with  an  international 
spirit.  Besides  several  of  the  organizations  created  by 
the  States,  there  usually  exist  free  associations  whose  aim 
it  is  to  secure  the  improvement  of  the  official  institution 
they  have  helped  to  promote.  As  much  from  gratitude 
as  from  a  sound  appreciation  of  the  facts  it  is  necessary 
to  bear  witness  to  the  services  which  may  be  rendered  by 
international  associations. 

Of  these,  two  are  able  to  exert  a  preponderant  action : 
the  Interparliamentary  Union,  grouping  more  than  three 
thousand  members  of  the  main  legislative  bodies  of  the 
world ;  and  the  Union  of  International  Associations,  fed- 
erating at  present  172  international  groups  whose  ad- 
herents are  to  be  numbered  by  hundreds  of  thousands. 
The  first  may  and  can  secure  for  the  work  to  be  done  by 
the  States  the  aid  of  the  parliamentarians  upon  whom  de- 
volves the  voting  of  the  necessary  appropriations:  the 
second  has  tried  since  its  foundation,  by  its  triennial 
world  congresses  (1910  and  1913)  and  by  its  review  La 
Vie  Internationale,  to  formulate  and  to  solve  the  great 
problems  common  to  mankind  as  a  whole.  Both  may  be 
considered  as  the  authoritative  expounders  of  universal 
public  opinion  and  they  can  secure  for  States,  willing  to 
develop  international  collaboration,  an  unequaled  moral 
and  material  support. 

4.  But  it  is  not  enough  to  promote  the  formation  of  a 
series  of  new  organizations ;  it  is  necessary  to  co-ordinate 
their  endeavors,  to  make  them  a  synthetic  whole,  to  watch 
their  evolution,  to  improve  them  incessantly,  and  conse- 


INTERNATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION         81 

quently  to  create  to  this  end  a  central  organism  of  initia- 
tive, supervision  and  control ;  but  it  seems  requisite  that 
such  an  organism  should  originate  in  national  organisms 
appointed  to  investigate  and  to  state  the  international 
needs  of  each  country.  This  twofold  aim  is  embodied  in 
the  following  article : 

59.  An  International  Administrative  Bureau  is  established 
to  co-ordinate  the  activities  of  the  various  organisms  es- 
tablished by  the  above-mentioned  conventions,  to  facilitate 
the  fulfilment  of  their  task  and  to  promote  the  creation  of 
new  organisms.  Each  State  shall  appoint  a  service  in- 
trusted with  its  international  administrative  relations  to  be 
represented  by  one  delegate  in  the  International  Adminis- 
trative Bureau. 

5.  The  following  article  does  not  require  long  explana- 
tions. It  provides  implicitly  that  the  International  Ad- 
ministrative Bureau  shall  have  itinerant  sessions,  but 
that  it  may  nevertheless  organize  permanent  services  at 
its  official  seat,  which  we  propose  to  establish  at  Brussels, 
where  the  Interparliamentary  Union  and  the  Union  of 
International  Associations  are  also  situated.  At  Brus- 
sels, too,  numerous  international  institutions,  with  which 
the  International  Administrative  Bureau  will  have  to 
come  into  close  relations,  have  their  secretaryships. 

The  most  characteristic  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
practical  suggestion  may  be  the  provision  aiming  at  the 
subdivision  into  departments  of  the  various  services  of 
the  International  Administrative  Bureau.  Schemes  for 
such  a  subdivision  have  already  been  drafted  and  the  cre- 
ation of  the  following  departments  proposed:  transpor- 
tation; agriculture,  industry  and  labor;  commerce,  colo- 
nization and  emigration ;  hygiene ;  sciences  and  arts ;  jus- 
tice. Such  an  organization  would  become  more  effective 
once  the  States  should  decide  to  bring  together  at  one 


82  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

and  the  same  place  the  offices  of  the  several  official  ad- 
ministrative institutions. 

A  final  provision  completes  the  proposed  organization 
by  the  addition  of  High  Consultative  Councils;  their 
function  is  to  express,  especially  from  an  international 
point  of  view,  the  desires  and  wishes  of  persons  inter- 
ested in  the  work  done  by  each  department,  in  order  to 
counterbalance  the  too  national  tendencies  of  the  dele- 
gates to  the  International  Administrative  Bureau. 

60.  The  International  Administrative  Bureau  deliberates, 
the  delegate  of  the  State  on  the  territory  of  which  it  meets 
presiding.  It  formulates  its  by-laws  and  organizes  the 
permanent  services  it  deems  necessary  to  the  fulfilment  of 
its  mission.  It  appoints  their  remunerated  employees. 

It  may  institute  departments  more  specially  intrusted 
with  the  management  of  connected  services;  it  is,  however, 
agreed  that  the  autonomy  of  the  international  organizations 
will  be  respected  as  largely  as  possible. 

There  shall  be  established,  near  the  various  services  or 
departments,  High  Consultative  Councils,  composed  of  dele- 
gates appointed  by  the  free  international  groups  interested 
in  the  work  performed  by  those  services  or  departments. 
The  seat  of  the  International  Administrative  Bureau  is 
at  Brussels.  The  traveling  expenses  and  the  eventual  in- 
demnities granted  to  the  delegates  are  at  the  charge  of  their 
respective  governments. 

6.  We  have  pointed  out  above  that  the  Permanent  In- 
ternational Secretaryship  and  the  International  Court 
Office  are  to  be  controlled,  in  their  material  operations, 
by  an  International  Administrative  Council.  The  pro- 
vision here  drafted  adopts  and  enlarges  a  body  already 
created  by  the  Peace  Conference  for  the  supervision  and 
management  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Permanent  Court  of 
Arbitration.  It  seemed  difficult  to  us  to  subordinate 
these  two  institutions,  of  so  special  a  legislative  and  judi- 


INTERNATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION         83 

cial  character,  to  the  International  Administrative  Bu- 
reau or  to  the  International  Budgetary  Committee,  which 
will  be  spoken  of  later.  The  personnel  of  both  institu- 
tions will  have  to  perform  a  task  so  important  that  it 
seems  most  convenient  to  intrust  its  appointment  to  the 
direct  representatives  of  the  States.  The  text  of  the  ar- 
ticle devoted  to  the  International  Administrative  Council 
is  taken  over,  in  its  essential  elements,  from  the  similar 
provision  of  the  Convention  for  the  Pacific  Settlement  of 
International  Disputes. 

61.  A  Permanent  Administrative  Council  is  appointed  to 
control  the  operations  of  the  International  Permanent  Sec- 
retaryship and  of  the  International  Court  Office.  It  is  com- 
posed of  the  diplomatic  representatives  accredited  to  The 
Hague  and  of  the  Netherlands  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
It  meets,  the  latter  or  in  his  absence  the  oldest  member,  act- 
ing as  president. 

The  Council  settles  its  rules  of  procedure.  It  decides  all 
questions  of  mere  administration  which  may  arise  with  re- 
gard to  the  business  of  the  Conference  of  States  and  of  the 
International  Judicature. 

The  Council's  deliberations  are  valid  if  nine  members  are 
present.  It  may  intrust  to  some  of  its  members  the  daily 
administration,  and  it  may  be  aided  by  salaried  employees. 

The  Council  communicates  to  the  States  the  regulations 
adopted  by  it.  It  furnishes  them  with  an  annual  report  on 
the  labors  accomplished  under  its  control  and  the  expendi- 
tures made. 

7.  The  last  question  to  be  considered,  from  an  admin- 
istrative point  of  view,  is  the  drafting  of  an  International 
Budget.  This  question  has  been  already  considered  in 
a  diagram  published  by  the  Union  of  International  As- 
sociations in  which  was  opposed,  to  the  eleven  billion 
francs  of  annual  military  expenses,  the  trifling  sum  of 
about  two  million  francs  devoted  by  all  the  States  to- 


84  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

gether  to  endeavors  of  world-wide  interest.*  If  to  these 
grants,  the  subsidies  devoted  by  the  Union  of  American 
Republics  to  Pan- American  endeavors  should  be  added, 
it  would  be  hardly  possible  to  attain  a  total  sum  of  more 
than  three  millions  francs.  This  represents  a  percent- 
age of  0.002727...  less  than  three  cents  on  each  hun- 
dred dollars  expended  on  preparation  for  war !  And  dur- 
ing the  first  year  of  the  great  war  the  amount  of  wealth 
wasted  by  the  belligerents  alone  reaches  ninety  billion 
francs ! ! ! 

This  tremendous  disproportion  between  destructive 
and  constructive  expenses  does  not  constitute,  in  our 
opinion,  a  sufficient  motive  to  lose  all  interest  in  the  prob- 
lem here  considered.  The  International  Budget  may  be 
small  at  the  outset :  this  is  no  reason  for  questioning  its 
rapid  growth.  If  the  States  are  truly  able  to  convince 
themselves  that  they  are  bound  to  extend  their  interna- 
tional relations  and  to  improve  the  rudimentary  means 

<  Below  are  listed  the  subsidies  in  francs  granted  by  the  States  during 
1913: 

Universal  Postal  Union fr.     125,000 

International  Geodetic  Association 85,000 

Universal  Telegraphic  Union 100,000 

International  Bureau  of  Weights  and  Measures 100,000 

Freight  Transportation  by  Railway 100,000 

Publication  of  Customs  Tariffs 130,000 

Protection  of  Industrial  Ownership   60,000 

Protection  of  Copyright  60,000 

Repression  of  Slave  Trade 25,000 

Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration 30,000 

Exploration  of  the  Sea 95,000 

International  Sugar  Union 25,000 

International  Seismological  Association 35,000 

International  Institute  of  Agriculture 500,000 

Radiotelegraphic  Union   40,000 

International  Office  of  Hygiene 150,000 

Unification  of  Commercial  Statistics 35,000 


Total   fr.  1,695,000 


INTERNATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION         85 

of  intercourse  by  which  their  subjects  may  be  brought  to- 
gether and  may  understand  and  appraise  one  another,  the 
International  Budget  will  easily  outrun  the  most  optimis- 
tic forecasts. 

Of  course,  the  International  Budget  ought  to  be  ap- 
proved by  the  Conference  of  States  and  as,  in  the  sys- 
tem we  advocate,  this  body  meets  only  every  two  years, 
the  budget  should  be  biennial. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  contributions  of  the  States  to 
the  expenses  of  the  various  offices  and  bureaus  created 
up  to  the  present  have  been  paid  through  the  govern- 
ments on  the  territories  of  which  those  bureaus  and  of- 
fices are  established.  This  process  was  the  cause  of 
many  difficulties,  of  multifarious  accounts,  of  disastrous 
delay  sometimes.  All  these  contributions  should  be  con- 
solidated and  made  into  a  single  fund;  it  would  chiefly 
be  needful  that  all  the  States  should  accede  to  all  the  in- 
ternational institutions  as  a  token  of  their  will  to  be  true 
members  of  the  Society  of  States.  In  fact,  there  is 
no  one  of  these  institutions  in  which  the  States  or  at 
least  their  subjects  are  not  directly  or  indirectly  inter- 
ested. 

As  to  the  share  in  the  expenses  to  be  assumed  by  each 
State,  we  propose  to  adopt  the  solution  provided  for  by 
the  article  of  the  Convention  for  the  Pacific  Settlement 
of  International  Disputes  by  which  the  States  bear  the 
cost  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitra- 
tion in  the  proportion  set  up  for  the  Bureau  of  the  Uni- 
versal Postal  Union.  It  is  certain  that  this  last  appor- 
tionment, which  has  been  applied  for  half  a  century,  is 
quite  satisfactory  and  corresponds  nearly  exactly  to  the 
relative  importance  of  the  various  States ;  the  States,  by 
the  way,  would  have  the  less  right  to  complain  because 
they  choose  for  themselves  the  class  which  they  desire  to 
enter. 


86  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

62.  The  States  participate  in  the  preparation  of  an  In- 
ternational Budget  intended  to  cover  the  expenses  of  the 
various  international  institutions,  official  and  private.  This 
budget  is  biennial  and  is  adopted  during  each  session  of  the 
Conference  of  States. 

It  shall  be  supported  by  annual  payments  made  by  the 
States  in  the  proportion  fixed  for  the  International  Bureau 
of  the  Universal  Postal  Union.  These  payments  shall  be 
made  during  the  month  of  January. 

The  expenses  agreed  upon  by  special  conventions  for  the 
management  of  international  institutions  shall  be  embodied 
in  the  International  Budget  and  borne  by  all  the  States. 

8.  The  International  Budget,  owing  to  the  probable 
and  desirable  development  given  to  the  official  and  pri- 
vate international  institutions,  by  acquiring  the  growing 
importance  above-mentioned,  will,  like  national  budgets, 
require  the  assistance  of  experts.  Besides,  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  international  financial  questions  will  raise 
grave  problems  to  be  solved  only  by  first-rate  specialists, 
if  the  idea  of  establishing  an  International  Bank  is  car- 
ried out. 

We  think  that  it  would  be  wise,  from  the  beginning,  to 
create  an  organization  capable  of  evolving  normally  ac- 
cording to  needs  and  circumstances.  This  organization, 
whose  members  the  States  will  have  the  greatest  interest 
in  selecting  from  among  the  most  distinguished  finan- 
ciers, should  make  out  the  International  Budget  and  exert 
a  high  control  over  the  International  Treasury  intrusted 
with  the  management  of  the  funds  granted  to  the  various 
international  institutions.  This  International  Treasury 
could  eventually  take  charge  of  other  financial  operations 
for  the  States  or  for  private  persons  engaged  in  interna- 
tional undertakings. 

Because  the  International  Treasury,  in  an  international 
way,  would  fulfill  a  task  similar  to  the  one  intrusted  to 


INTERNATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION        87 

national  treasuries,  it  seems  wise  that  orders  of  payment 
issued  by  it  should  be  submitted  for  approval  to  the  con- 
trolling organization  of  the  State  on  whose  territory  it 
shall  be  established.  This  measure  will  largely  diminish 
the  responsibility  of  the  directors  of  this  financial  insti- 
tution. 

63.  An  International  Financial  Committee  is  intrusted 
with  making  out  the  International  Budget  and  its  reference 
to  the  States  with  an  explanatory  statement  three  months 
before  each  session  of  the  Conference  of  States.  This  Com- 
mittee is  composed  of  one  delegate  for  each  State  selected 
from  the  high  officers  in  the  financial  service.  A  State  may 
intrust  its  representation  to  a  delegate  of  another  State ;  no 
delegate,  however,  may  represent  more  than  two  States. 

The  International  Financial  Committee  is  intrusted  with 
the  high  direction  of  the  International  Treasury;  it  ap- 
points its  personnel,  fixes  its  expenses  and  formulates  its 
organic  regulations. 

It  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  year  at  the  seat  of  the  In- 
ternational Treasury  and  inspect  the  operations  thereof. 
These  operations  are  conducted  under  the  supervision  of  the 
financial  controlling  organization  of  the  State  where  the 
International  Treasury  is  situated;  this  organization  shall 
have  charge  of  validating  its  orders  of  payment. 


CHAPTER  VI 

GENERAL  AND  TRANSITORY  PROVISIONS 

1.  IN  the  present  chapter  we  examine  some  provisions 
applicable  to  all  or  most  of  the  institutions  spoken  of  in 
the  previous  chapters.  They  concern  first  of  all  the  per- 
sonal international  situation  of  the  judges,  commission- 
ers, officers,  employees,  delegates  and  members  of  the 
various  international  institutions. 

It  is  necessary  to  subdivide  these  agents  into  two 
groups:  (1)  those  who,  as  judges  of  the  International 
Court  of  Justice  and  officers  of  the  International  Court 
Office  and  of  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship, 
are  occupied  with  permanent  functions;  and  (2)  those 
who,  as  delegates  to  the  Conference  of  States,  members 
of  amicable  or  arbitral  jurisdictions,  of  the  Interna- 
tional Preparatory  Committee,  of  the  International  Ad- 
ministrative Bureau  and  of  the  International  Financial 
Committee,  are  intrusted  with  a  merely  temporary  mis- 
sion. We  suggest  denationalization  of  the  first  class  and 
granting  to  the  second  class  the  privilege  of  exterritorial- 
ity. 

The  principle  of  denationalization  is  new  but  is  easily 
vindicated  by  the  necessity  that  those  intrusted  with  per- 
manent international  functions  should  be  governed  by 
impartiality  at  every  moment  of  their  delicate  careers. 
They  should  not  be  drawn  toward  their  respective  coun- 
tries by  the  hope  of  holding  there  some  prominent  posi- 
tion or  by  any  participation  whatever  in  its  public  life. 
They  ought  to  acquire  a  new  soul,  to  feel  themselves  truly 

88 


GENERAL  AND  TRANSITORY  PROVISIONS       89 

men  in  the  broadest  sense  of  this  word  and  to  understand 
that  for  them  prejudices,  hatreds,  mistrust  no  longer  ex- 
ist ;  they  must  in  some  measure  liberate  themselves  from 
all  that  could  darken  their  clear  vision  of  things.  But  it 
is  needful,  moreover,  that  their  security  should  be  com- 
plete and  that  the  States  pledge  themselves  to  protect 
them  against  the  calumnies,  reproaches  and  grievances 
which  people,  in  some  ultranationalist  circles,  will  be  too 
inclined  to  utter  against  them.  Their  purely  civil  inter- 
ests, owing  to  the  actual  state  of  international  private 
law,  will  remain  submitted  to  national  laws. 

As  to  the  privilege  of  exterritoriality,  its  application 
can  not  raise  difficulties  since  it  has  long  been  a  rule  in 
the  diplomatic  relations  between  States.  The  conven- 
tions agreed  upon  by  both  Peace  Conferences  have  pro- 
vided, in  favor  of  the  judges  of  the  jurisdictions  estab- 
lished or  projected  by  them,  for  the  enjoyment  of  diplo- 
matic privileges  and  immunities  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties.  The  articles  here  proposed  only  generalize 
a  measure  already  agreed  upon  by  all  the  States. 

64.  The  functions  of  judge  of  the  International  Court  of 
Justice,  those  of  clerk  of  the  International  Court  Office  and 
of  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship  are  incompati- 
ble with  any  national  functions  whatever. 

The  persons  appointed  to  these  functions  are  denational- 
ized during  their  incumbency  and  are  placed  under  the  col- 
lective safeguard  of  the  States.  As  to  the  preservation  of 
their  civil  interests  they  may,  however,  appeal  to  the  legisla- 
tion of  their  native  country. 

65.  Delegates  to  the  Conference  of  States,  members  of  the 
amicable  and  arbitral  jurisdictions,  of  the  International  Ad- 
ministrative Bureau  and  of  the  International  Financial  Com- 
mittee, during  the  continuance  of  their  mandate,  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  exterritoriality. 


90  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

2.  The  principle  of  the  equality  of  States  and  the  neces- 
sity of  facilitating  individual  relations  between  the  per- 
sons in  charge  of  international  functions  require  that  all 
national  hierarchic  denominations,  titles  and  honorific 
designations,  sometimes  so  complicated  and  so  different  in 
various  countries,  should  not  be  used  during  interna- 
tional meetings  and  in  the  intercourse  between  members 
of  the   various   international   organizations.    It   would 
even  be  advisable  to  suppress  the  use  of  titles  of  nobility 
and  of  the  term  "excellency,"  which  truly  adds  nothing 
to  the  moral  value  of  the  personages  fulfilling  interna- 
tional functions.    The  mere  indication  of  these  functions 
is  in  fact  the  highest  token  of  confidence  which  could  be 
given  and  the  most  eloquent  expression  of  the  merit 
which  commended  them  to  the  choice  of  the  States.    The 
Society  of  States  as  such  can  create  neither  titles  nor 
orders ;  it  can  not  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  those  cre- 
ated by  the  States,  thereby  yielding  to  national  traditions 
and  customs.    This  is  the  object  of  the  following  article : 

66.  Neither  international  titles  nor  orders  exist.  During 
the  continuance  of  their  mandate,  the  persons  enumerated  in 
the  previous  article  shall  be  designated  only  by  the  denom- 
ination of  their  international  functions. 

3.  A  question  which  could  perhaps  be  considered  as 
secondary  and  form  the  subject  of  a  subsequent  conven- 
tion between  the  States  is  that  relating  to  the  traveling 
and  postal  expenses  of  those  intrusted  with  an  interna- 
tional mission. 

However,  in  several  national  constitutions,  provisions 
were  introduced  securing  to  the  representatives  of  the 
people  a  right  of  free  circulation  in  order  to  obviate  its 
acknowledgment  depending  on  an  occasional  majority. 
If  this  right  of  free  circulation  is  so  important  from  a  na- 
tional point  of  view,  has  it  not  an  equal,  if  not  greater, 


GENERAL  AND  TRANSITORY  PROVISIONS        91 

importance  from  an  international  point  of  view?  Is  it 
not  obvious  that,  for  some  States,  situated  at  long  dis- 
tances from  the  meeting  places  and  seats  of  international 
institutions,  traveling  expenses  of  their  delegates  may 
become  sometimes  a  serious  hindrance  to  the  sending  of 
truly  representative  delegations.  The  cost  of  living  for 
each  delegate  will  be  largely  the  same  and  can  be  adjusted 
to  the  resources  of  the  States  represented,  while  travel- 
ing expenses  are  most  unequal  and  irreducible. 

The  grant  of  a  right  to  travel  free  to  a  relatively  small 
number  of  international  delegates,  officers  and  employees 
will  not  be  a  very  heavy  burden  on  the  States,  for  most 
of  them  have  retained  the  right  of  granting  such  priv- 
ileges or  of  claiming  them  from  railway  and  navigation 
companies.  If  it  would  be  better  in  our  opinion  to  in- 
clude a  special  provision  to  this  end  in  the  international 
pact,  this  is  mainly  because  direct  understandings  be- 
tween the  46  sovereign  States  of  the  world  would  be 
reached  only  after  endless  parleys,  when  it  is  most  neces- 
sary that  the  international  organizations  should  be  able 
to  operate  normally  as  soon  as  possible. 

One  will  notice,  in  the  text  of  the  following  article, 
that  the  advantage  of  free  circulation  will  be  granted  not 
only  to  each  acting  member  of  an  international  institu- 
tion but  also  to  those  who  accompany  members.  It  is  in- 
deed to  be  taken  into  account  that  the  members  of  inter- 
national organizations  are  either  well  along  in  years  or 
come  from  a  great  distance,  and  will  not  desire  to  remain 
separated  for  months  at  a  stretch  from  at  least  one  of 
their  immediate  family.  This  practice  has  become  a  rule 
in  numerous  American  institutions  and  we  think  it  ad- 
visable to  adopt  it  from  the  international  point  of  view. 

The  postal  franchise  will  be  easier  to  introduce  because 
to  secure  it  an  appeal  to  the  International  Bureau  of  the 
Universal  Postal  Union  will  be  sufficient. 


92  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

A  paragraph  of  the  next  article  authorizes  the  States 
to  secure  similar  advantages  for  the  free  international 
institutions  whose  co-operation  will  be  asked  for  or  whose 
work  has  an  international  bearing.  For  those  institu- 
tions traveling  and  postal  expenses  of  members  are  often 
the  most  insuperable  hindrances  to  the  fulfilment  of  their 
task. 

67.  The  States  shall  create  a  free  international  traveling 
ticket  in  behalf  of  the  delegates,  officers  and  members  of  the 
various  international  institutions  and  of  a  person  in  their 
company.  The  Postal  franchise  shall  also  be  granted  to 
them  for  their  official  correspondence.  The  free  interna- 
tional institutions  may  benefit  by  these  advantages  through 
the  medium  of  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship. 

4.  The  gravest  problem  yet  to  be  considered  is  the  re- 
vision of  the  present  convention  and  of  its  complementary 
conventions.  The  main  idea  which  ought  to  prevail  in 
this  delicate  matter  is  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  place 
too  great  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  demand  for  revision, 
which  might  at  first  sight  meet  with  little  sympathy.  It 
is  well  that  propositions  should  be  made  and  that  they 
should  induce  useful  and  fruitful  discussions.  The  or- 
ganization of  the  Society  of  States  ought  to  progress,  to 
improve,  to  evolve  unceasingly;  nothing  would  be  more 
perilous  for  it  than  stagnation  and  rigidity.  We  have, 
therefore,  limited  to  five  the  number  of  States  able  to 
apply  for  a  revision. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  revision  should  not  be  left 
to  the  decision  of  a  mere  majority.  Though  we  have 
criticised  the  absolute  application  of  the  rule  of  unanim- 
ity, a  modification  of  the  conventions  organizing  the  Soci- 
ety of  States  ought  to  obtain  a  quasi-unanimous  assent; 
otherwise  there  would  be  an  overwhelming  risk  of  promot- 
ing the  breakup  of  the  agreements  reached  and  of  bring- 


GENERAL  AND  TRANSITORY  PROVISIONS       93 

ing  the  world  back  to  the  anarchic  situation  from  which 
the  peoples  are  anxious  to  escape.  We  have,  therefore, 
provided  that  the  suggested  revision  should  obtain  the 
approval  of  at  least  four-fifths  of  the  States.  This  could 
provoke  the  secession  of  only  one-fifth  of  the  States  at 
most,  but  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  greatest  efforts  will 
be  made  to  avoid  such  an  extreme  result;  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected also  that  the  change  in  universal  public  opinion 
will  enable  it  to  exert  a  powerful  influence  on  the  govern- 
ments and  oppose  rash  proposals  of  revision. 

68.  At  the  request  of  five  States  revision  may  be  under- 
taken of  one  or  several  designated  provisions  of  the  present 
convention  or  of  the  complementary  conventions ;  the  same 
number  of  States  may  also  propose  the  introduction  of  new 
provisions. 

This  request  shall  reach  the  Permanent  International 
Secretaryship  at  least  one  year  before  the  next  meeting  of 
the  Conference  of  States ;  it  shall  be  forwarded  immediately 
to  the  other  States  and  to  the  International  Preparatory 
Committee. 

The  request  shall  include  an  explanatory  note  and  shall 
be  submitted  to  the  Conference  of  States  with  a  report  of 
the  International  Preparatory  Committee. 

A  proposed  modification  shall  be  adopted  only  if  it  is  ac- 
cepted by  four-fifths  of  the  States. 

5.  The  first  transitory  provision  is  self-explanatory. 
Its  object  is  to  pledge  the  States  to  conclude  complemen- 
tary conventions  securing  the  application  of  the  princi- 
ples included  in  the  present  convention.  It  seemed  use- 
ful to  enumerate  the  main  conventions  to  be  agreed  upon ; 
this  permits  a  survey  of  the  work  to  be  done  and  expresses 
in  some  measure  the  obligation  taken  by  the  States  with 
mankind  to  formulate  without  delay  the  main  interna- 
tional laws. 

We  have  tried  to  draft  some  of  these  complementary 


94  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

conventions  to  show  that  it  will  be  possible,  without  too 
much  difficulty,  to  realize  the  programme  we  have  out- 
lined. These  conventions  are  given  as  an  annex  to  the 
text  of  the  charter ;  as  a  preamble  to  each,  a  short  notice 
sets  forth  the  underlying  ideas  embodied. 

69.  Complementary  and  regulatory  conventions  shall  be 
immediately  concluded  by  the  States  in  order  to  secure  the 
realization  of  the  provisions  of  the  present  convention. 

Their  subjects  shall  be:  the  international  judicial  organ- 
ization; the  methods  of  constraint  and  the  use  of  armed 
force;  the  procedure  to  be  followed  by  national  communi- 
ties in  order  to  secure  their  autonomy  or  the  redress  of  their 
grievances;  the  regulation  of  emigration;  the  establishment 
of  councils  of  management  and  the  protection  of  backward 
populations;  the  colonial  regime;  the  customs  regime. 

70.  In  the  above-mentioned  conventions  are  to  be  em- 
bodied, in  proper  terms,  the  provisions  of  the  present  conven- 
tion containing  the  principles  relating  to  these  conventions. 

6.  We  have  already  expressed  above  our  hope  that  the 
press  will  fundamentally  change  its  traditional  action. 
We  think,  however,  that  the  loyal  and  honest  press  is  as 
desirous  as  we  are  to  put  an  end  to  the  behavior  of  cer- 
tain sensational  papers.  It  is  necessary  that  the  States 
should  be  protected  from  the  implied  accusations  too 
often  directed  against  them  with  impunity  since  they  are 
unable  to  indict  the  responsible  authors.  Nearly  all  leg- 
islations contain  provisions  for  protecting  the  rulers  of 
States  against  similar  attacks ;  there  exists  no  motive  for 
refusing  to  the  peoples  a  similar  protection.  Of  course, 
nobody  advocates  the  restoration  of  censorship  where  it 
has  been  suppressed,  or  its  maintenance  where  it  has  un- 
fortunately been  revived  during  the  great  war.  It  is  a 
question  only  of  embodying  in  the  penal  law  of  each  State 


GENEEAL  AND  TRANSITORY  PROVISIONS       95 

provisions  punishing  such  offenses  by  penalties  severe 
enough  to  be  effective ;  in  our  opinion  imprisonment  from 
one  to  five  years  and  a  cumulative  fine  of  $1,000  to 
$10,000,  without  reprieve  or  extenuating  circumstances, 
would  not  exceed  a  just  figure.  Journalists  will  be  free 
as  before  to  write  what  they  please,  but  they  ought  to 
know  that  their  lies,  insinuations  and  calumnies  will  not 
escape  prosecution,  because  they  were  circulated  through 
the  press  and  directed  against  communities  actually  dis- 
armed. 

71.  The  States  pledge  themselves  to  include  in  their  penal 
laws  provisions  intended  to  inflict  severe  penalties  on  those 
who,  by  lies,  calumnies,  insinuations  or  insults,  attempt  to 
disparage  foreign  peoples  and  to  excite  them  one  against  an- 
other. 

The  States  afford  to  their  respective  diplomatic  and  con- 
sular agents  the  right  to  impeach  the  offenders  and  if  neces- 
sary to  summon  them  before  the  competent  jurisdictions. 

7.  A  purely  formal  modification  is  contained  in  a  last 
article.  Several  governments  have  already  spontane- 
ously changed  the  name  of  the  public  administrations  in- 
trusted with  preparation  for  war  and  their  relations  with 
other  States.  They  have  considered  that  it  was  needful 
to  remove  from  the  first  of  these  administrations  its  ag- 
gressive and  from  the  second  its  hostile  character  and 
they  have  renamed  them  by  devoting  the  one  to  national 
defense  and  the  other  to  international  relations.  We 
think  that  as  a  token  of  mutual  benevolence  all  the  States 
should  pledge  themselves  to  adopt  a  similar  change. 
Words  have  a  suggestive  power  which  should  not  be 
neglected. 

72.  The  States  pledge  themselves,  if  they  have  not  done  so 


96  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

already,  to  change  the  names  of  their  offices,  secretaryships 
or  ministries  of  foreign  affairs,  war  and  navy;  these  will  be 
respectively  named  offices,  secretaryships  or  ministries  of  in- 
ternational relations,  national  defense  and  naval  defense. 


MAGNISSIMA  CHABTA 
FULL  TEXT 


MAGNISSIMA  CHARTA 
PREAMBLE 

Animated  by  the  ineradicable  and  steadfast  purpose  to  avoid 
the  renewal  of  the  slaughter  and  dismay  which  have  just  stag- 
gered the  world; 

Decided  to  eliminate  all  appeal  to  war  from  international  in- 
tercourse ; 

Anxious  to  form  a  more  close  and  perfect  union ; 

Determined  to  establish  the  empire  of  law  and  to  assure  the 
triumph  of  justice; 

Resolved  to  provide  for  their  common  security  and  to  organize 
their  common  defense  against  all  perils  whatsoever  which  may 
assail  or  menace  them ; 

Imbued  with  a  spirit  of  benevolence,  confidence,  loyalty  and 
frankness  which  ought  henceforth  to  preside  over  their  relations ; 

Convinced  that  the  interest  of  each  of  them  is  to  promote 
the  general  welfare  of  the  peoples  and  to  secure  mutually  their 
inalienable  independence ; 

The  following  States  have  appointed  as  their  plenipotenti- 
aries .  .  .,  who,  after  having  communicated  their  full  powers, 
found  to 'be  in  good  and  due  form,  have  agreed  upon  the  fol- 
lowing provisions: 

PRELIMINARY  TITLE 
RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  STATES 

ART.  1. — States  have  for  their  essential  mission  not  only  the  pro- 
motion of  the  wellbeing  of  their  own  citizens,  but  also  the 
furtherance  of  the  common  welfare  of  humanity.  They 
pledge  themselves  to  combine  and  co-ordinate  their  efforts  to 
attain  this  end. 

99 


100  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

ART.  2. — The  States  are  united  in  fellowship.  They  must  aid 
one  another  and  are  under  the  obligation  to  guarantee  their 
mutual  security. 

ART.  3. — In  the  exercise  of  their  rights,  States  may  not  do  injury 
to  the  rights  of  other  States. 

ART.  4. — The  sovereignty,  autonomy  and  independence  of  States 
are  placed  under  their  collective  safeguard.  They  can  be 
restricted  only  to  the  extent  that  each  State  freely  agrees 
thereto. 

ART.  5. — The  peoples  have  the  inalienable  and  imprescriptible 
right  to  dispose  freely  of  themselves.  No  annexations  or  trans- 
fers of  territories  can  take  place  without  the  consent  of  their 
populations. 

ART.  6. — The  minor  populations  are  placed  under  the  collective 
protection  of  the  States.  The  territories  which  they  inhabit  are 
administered  in  favor  of  the  natives  and  in  order  to  secure  their 
full  moral  and  material  development. 

ART.  7. — The  colonies  properly  so  called  and  the  protectorates 
are  presumed  to  have  been  established  with  the  consent  of  the 
States  and  their  administration  constitutes  a  collective  dele- 
gation given  to  their  respective  metropoles. 

ART.  8. — In  polyethnic  States  the  right  of  the  minorities  to  take 
part  in  the  administration  of  the  localities  they  inhabit,  to 
practice  their  religion  and  •  to  use  their  national  language  is 
formally  guaranteed. 

ART.  9. — States  have  the  right  to  protest  separately  or  collectively 
against  acts  done  by  one  of  them,  infringing  morals,  equity  and 
right,  and  to  suggest  or  take  measures  deemed  useful  to  put  an 
end  to  these  facts. 

ART.  10. — The  States  have  the  special  right  of  accrediting  col- 
lectively a  Council  of  Management  near  the  State  which  causes 
prejudice  to  the  citizens  of  other  States  by  defective  adminis- 
tration of  its  finances,  which  permits  or  organizes  the  slaughter 
of  its  own  citizens,  or  which,  by  its  incapacity  to  maintain 
order,  endangers  life  and  legitimate  property  of  foreigners. 

ART.  11. — The  exploitation  of  the  globe  is  managed  by  the  States 
in  the  collective  interest  of  men,  and  so  as  to  facilitate  and  de- 


MAGNISSIMA  CHARTA  101 

velop  to  the  utmost  the  exchange  of  raw  materials  and  of 
manufactured  products. 

ART.  12. — The  sea  is  free  and  open  without  hindrance  to  the 
navigation  of  all  peoples.  It  is  placed  under  the  collective 
supervision  of  the  States  which  assume  the  charge  of  guar- 
anteeing at  a  common  expense  the  security  of  passenger  and 
freight  traffic  and  of  looking  after  the  observance  by  marines 
of  uniform  regulations. 

ART.  13. — All  waterways  of  whatever  kind,  accessible  to  seagoing 
vessels,  are  open  without  exception  to  the  free  navigation  of  all 
peoples. 

ART.  14. — The  territories  of  all  colonies  shall  be  open,  without 
differential  treatment,  to  the  commerce  of  all  nations.  The 
only  taxes  to  be  paid  shall  be  raised  to  compensate  expenses 
useful  to  the  traffic. 

ART.  15. — Custom  duties  can  have  only  a  fiscal  and  transitory 
character.  The  States  will  endeavor  to  set  up  a  custom  union, 
preparatory  to  the  adoption  of  free  trade. 

ART.  16. — Relations  between  the  States  are  controlled  by  the 
same  principles  of  right,  equity  and  morals  as  those  which  con- 
trol relations  between  individuals. 

ART.  17. — Conventions  freely  concluded  between  States  are  bind- 
ing upon  them  as  long  as  they  are  in  force.  They  may  be 
broken,  except  through  an  express  clause  to  the  contrary,  only 
by  the  consent  of  all  the  signatories. 

ART.  18. — Every  potestative  clause,  which  permits  to  any  or  to 
each  of  the  contracting  States  to  decide  in  a  sovereign  manner 
whether  a  convention  is  partly  or  completely  applicable  to  a 
given  case,  shall  be  considered  as  void. 

ART.  19. — Every  secret  treaty  is  void  and  does  not  bind  the  States 
in  whose  names  it  was  concluded.  A  treaty  is  valid  only  if  it  is 
negotiated  with  the  full  knowledge  of  the  direct  representatives 
of  the  peoples  interested  and  if  it  has  obtained  the  public  assent 
of  these  representatives. 

ART.  20. — The  States  prohibit  the  conclusion,  between  two  or 
more  of  them,  of  political  or  military,  defensive  or  offensive 
alliances. 


102  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

ART.  21. — All  conflicts  between  States  shall  be  settled  in  an 
amicable  or  contentious  manner. 

ART.  22. — No  State  has  the  right  to  have  recourse  to  force  with- 
out the  consent  and  the  co-operation  of  the  other  States  and 
only  as  a  judicial  sanction  or  coercion. 

ART.  23. — A  State  which  is  attacked,  outside  of  the  conditions 
conventionally  and  collectively  established  by  the  States,  has  a 
right  of  legitimate  defense.  The  other  States  are  obliged  to 
participate  in  this  defense  and  to  make  it  efficacious. 

ART.  24. — The  States  shall  not  have  recourse  to  force  as  a  means 
of  sanction,  coercion  or  defense  before  having  exhausted  all 
moral,  political  and  economic  means  of  constraint. 

ART.  25. — The  States  are  equal,  whatever  may  be  the  extent  of 
their  territory  or  the  importance  of  their  population.  Equal 
respect  is  assured  to  the  name,  flag,  seal,  blazon  and  device 
adopted  by  each  State. 

ART.  26. — Foreigners  enjoy  in  all  States  the  liberties  and  rights 
guaranteed  to  nationals.  The  States  proclaim  that  these  liber- 
ties and  rights  essentially  include  individual  liberty  and  se- 
curity, inviolability  of  domicile  and  property,  freedom  of  con- 
science, freedom  of  speech,  inviolability  of  correspondence, 
freedom  of  association,  freedom  of  religion.  Restrictions  may, 
however,  be  enacted  in  respect  to  the  enjoyment  of  certain 
rights  of  elective  franchise  and  of  eligibility. 

ART.  27. — Neither  race,  nationality,  language,  nor  religious, 
philosophical  or  social  convictions  may  be  used  as  a  basis  on 
which  to  exclude  or  to  expel  foreigners. 

Nevertheless  the  States  may  agree  on  regulations  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  abnormal  and  amoral,  the  insane,  infected  patients, 
professional  beggars  and  vagrants,  persons  who  have  been  con- 
victed and  all  other  categories  of  undesirable  persons. 

They  will  also  establish  common  regulations  in  matters  of 
change  of  nationality  and  may  agree  upon  general  measures 
relating  to  the  annual  or  absolute  number  of  immigrants  ad- 
mitted on  the  territory  of  each  State  or  to  their  distribution 
thereupon. 


MAGNISSIMA  CHAETA  103 

FIRST  TITLE 
CONFERENCE  OF  STATES 

ART.  28. — The  delegates  of  the  States  meet,  once  in  two  years  at 
least,  in  a  Conference  whose  place  of  meeting  shall  be  fixed  at 
the  last  sitting  of  the  previous  Conference.  In  default  of  such 
a  decision,  the  session  shall  take  place  at  The  Hague.  The  Con- 
ference will  automatically  meet,  without  special  convocation,  on 
the  eighteenth  of  May. 

The  States  pledge  themselves,  when  the  Conference  meets  on 
their  territory,  to  place  at  its  disposal  the  desired  quarters  and 
personnel. 

ART.  29. — Each  State  is  represented  at  the  Conference  by  a 
mission  composed  of  an  unlimited  number  of  delegates  which  it 
shall  be  allowed  to  appoint  in  its  own  way.  It  is,  however, 
recommended  that  the  number  of  delegates  should  at  least  be 
equal  to  the  number  of  Commissions  requisite  to  the  fufil- 
ment  of  the  work  of  each  Conference  and  that  they  should 
be  chosen,  according  to  their  aptitudes,  by  the  representative 
bodies  of  the  various  States  from  among  the  most  competent 
personages  of  each  country. 

ART.  30. — The  missions  may  include  titular,  technical  and  sub- 
stitute delegates.  The  States  may  during  the  sessions  modify 
the  composition  of  their  respective  missions.  All  notifications 
respecting  the  appointment  of  delegates  shall  be  made  to  the 
Permanent  International  Secretaryship  and  shall  be  forwarded 
thereto  six  months  before  each  Conference.  The  Permanent 
International  Secretaryship  shall  prepare  a  list  of  the  dele- 
gates and  notify  the  same  to  all  the  States  three  months  before 
each  session. 

ART.  31. — Each  State  disposes  of  only  one  vote.  This  vote  shall 
be  cast  in  each  Commission  by  the  delegate  specially  appointed 
to  this  effect  by  each  mission  and  in  plenary  sittings  by  the 
chief  of  the  mission  or  another  person  appointed  by  him. 
ART.  32. — The  solemn  opening  sitting  of  each  Conference  shall 
take  place  under  the  presidency  of  the  chief  of  the  State  on 
whose  territory  it  meets.  It  shall  take  place  in  the  presence 


104  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

of  the  representatives  of  the  authorities  of  this  State  and  the 
members  of  the  diplomatic  body  accredited  to  it. 

The  public  and  the  press,  either  national  or  foreign,  shall  be 
allowed  to  assist  at  this  ceremony  as  well  as  at  subsequent  ple- 
nary sittings. 

ART.  33. — At  the  time  of  the  opening  session,  the  Conference 
shall  proceed,  by  acclamation  or  by  secret  ballot  if  it  is  de- 
manded by  at  least  six  States,  to  the  appointment  of  its  Bureau 
composed  of  a  President,  two  Vice-Presidents,  two  general 
Secretaries  and  as  many  Secretaries  as  there  shall  be  Commis- 
sions. Each  State  shall  be  represented  in  the  Bureau  by  not 
more  than  one  member. 

ART.  34. — The  Conference,  on  the  proposition  of  the  Bureau, 
determines  the  number  of  the  Commissions  and  appoints  their 
Presidents,  Vice-Presidents  and  Secretaries. 

A  project  of  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  its  proceedings 
shall  be  presented  by  the  Bureau  for  adoption  by  the  Confer- 
ence. These  regulations  shall  include  provisions  to  secure 
instant,  complete  and  analytic  publication  of  the  debates  of 
the  plenary  sessions,  as  well  as  of  Commission  sessions. 

ART.  35. — The  resolutions  of  the  Conference  are  taken  in  the 
form  of  conventions  and  declarations.  It  may  also  express 
wishes. 

The  unanimous  adoption  of  a  convention  by  the  States  repre- 
sented shall  incorporate  its  provisions  into  positive  interna- 
tional law. 

It  shall,  however,  be  allowed  to  a  majority  of  States  to  con- 
clude between  themselves,  during  the  session  of  a  Conference, 
a  convention  which  has  not  obtained  a  unanimous  assent.  Such 
a  convention  shall  always  be  open  to  the  subsequent  adhesion 
of  the  dissenting  States. 

ART.  36. — There  shall  be  instituted  at  common  cost  by  the  States, 
at  The  Hague,  a  Permanent  International  Secretaryship.  This 
Secretaryship  shall  have  the  mission  of  preserving  the  original 
conventions  adopted  by  the  various  Conferences;  of  receiving 
and  publishing  ratifications,  adhesions  and  denunciations  of 
these  Conventions;  of  registering  preliminary  propositions 
made  by  the  States  or  by  their  Permanent  National  Com- 


MAGNISSIMA  CHARTA  105 

mittees ;  of  arranging  material  preparation  for  the  proceedings 
of  each  Conference  and  of  the  International  Preparatory  Com- 
mittee. It  may  in  addition  be  intrusted  by  the  various  Con- 
ferences with  the  execution  of  the  decisions  taken.  It  shall  also 
look  after  the  complete  and  analytical  publication  of  their  pro- 
ceedings. 

ART.  37. — The  Permanent  International  Secretaryship  is  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  International  Administrative  Council, 
which  will  appoint  its  personnel,  fix  its  annual  budget  and  for- 
mulate its  organic  regulations.  Its  budget  will  include  the 
expenses  required  for  the  sessions  of  the  International  Prepara- 
tory Committee. 

ART.  38. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  constitute  Permanent 
National  Committees  intrusted  with  the  prosecution  and  the 
promotion  of  researches  and  studies  concerning  the  questions  to 
be  placed  on  the  order  of  the  day  of  the  future  Conferences. 
The  results  realized  by  these  Committees  or  through  their  inter- 
vention shall  be  communicated  by  each  State  to  all  the  other 
States,  as  well  as  to  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship, 
at  least  one  year  before  the  meeting  of  the  next  Conference. 

ART.  39. — The  International  Preparatory  Committee  meets  at 
least  one  year  before  the  opening  of  each  Conference  in  order 
to  examine  the  various  propositions  made  by  the  States,  to  co- 
ordinate and  harmonize  them.  This  Committee  is  composed  of 
delegates  appointed,  one  for  each  State,  from  the  members  of 
their  Permanent  National  Committees.  This  choice  shall  be 
made  by  the  States  as  soon  as  they  shall  have  appointed  their 
National  Committees,  and  shall  be  notified  to  the  Permanent 
International  Secretaryship,  which  shall  draw  up  a  list  to  be 
transmitted  to  all  of  the  States  and  to  the  members  of  the  Inter- 
national Committee.  It  shall  invite  them  to  come  immediately 
into  touch  with  one  another  through  it. 

ART.  40. — The  International  Preparatory  Committee  shall  itself 
formulate  its  organic  regulations.  The  traveling  expenses  of 
each  of  its  members  shall  be  at  the  charge  of  the  State  which 
appointed  them. 

The  General  Report  to  be  made  by  the  Committee  shall  be 
prepared,  printed  and  forwarded  to  each  State,  six  months  at 


106  THE  GKEAT  SOLUTION 

least  before  each  Conference,  through  the  diplomatic  agents 
accredited  to  the  government  of  the  Netherlands.  It  will  be 
forwarded  by  registered  mail  to  the  States  which  are  not  repre- 
sented near  this  government. 

ABT.  41. — The  right  of  initiative  belongs  to  each  of  the  missions 
which  takes  part  in  a  Conference.  This  right  is  exercised  by 
them  at  any  plenary  sitting,  which  will  take  under  considera- 
tion the  propositions  made  and  shall  decide  if  they  ought  to  be 
referred  to  one  of  the  Commissions,  to  the  International  Pre- 
paratory Committee  for  immediate  report,  or  to  the  next 
Conference. 

The  International  Preparatory  Committee  while  in  session 
also  enjoys  the  right  of  initiative  and  shall  include  its  proposi- 
tions in  its  General  Report. 

ART.  42. — The  International  Preparatory  Committee  shall  form, 
with  the  editing  Commission  of  each  Conference,  a  Consulta- 
tive Council  of  Codification.  This  Council  shall  especially  ful- 
fill the  mission  of  co-ordinating  the  texts  of  the  various  Con- 
ventions and  of  embodying  them  in  the  body  of  provisions 
which  the  States  shall  have  agreed  upon  during  the  successive 
Conferences. 

ART.  43. — A  right  of  petition  is  granted  to  International  Asso- 
ciations enjoying  a  legal  status  for  all  matters  susceptible  of 
legislative  unification  or  for  conventional,  juridical  or  admin- 
istrative provisions.  This  right  of  petition  shall  be  exercised 
through  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship. 

The  petitions  shall  be  transmitted  for  advice  to  the  Inter- 
national Preparatory  Committee.  Report  shall  be  made  to 
each  Conference  at  a  plenary  sitting  on  each  petition  and  on 
the  action  which  it  is  proposed  to  the  Conference  to  take  on  it. 

SECOND  TITLE 
JUDICIAL  ORGANIZATION 

44. — In  order  to  secure  the  peaceful  settlement  of  interna- 
tional disputes,  the  States  establish  an  international  judicial 
organization.  This  organization  includes  a  triple  jurisdiction, 
amicable,  arbitral  and  contentious. 


MAGNISSIMA  CHAETA  107 

ART.  45. — Amicable  jurisdiction  includes  Good  Offices  and  Medi- 
ation, the  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  and  the  Inter- 
national Council  of  Conciliation.  There  are  established  a  Per- 
manent Court  of  Arbitration  and  an  International  Court  of 
Justice. 

ART.  46. — Considered  as  international  disputes  are  those  which 
occur  between  States,  between  States  and  citizens  of  other 
States,  and  between  citizens  of  two  or  more  States. 

The  States  reserve  the  right  to  submit  to  an  arbitral  or 
contentious  jurisdiction  the  disputes  of  the  two  last  classes  only 
in  case  of  appeal  or  cassation. 

ART.  47. — The  States  may,  by  a  general  or  special  stipulation, 
agree  to  which  of  the  various  jurisdictional  modes  they  wish  to 
give  preference. 

ART.  48. — When  contending  States  are  unable  to  agree  upon  a 
special  jurisdictional  mode,  there  will  be  secured  to  the  most 
diligent  State  a  mode  of  procedure  in  order  to  submit  the  dis- 
pute to  the  jurisdiction  of  its  choice. 

ART.  49. — Access  to  the  amicable  and  the  arbitral  jurisdictions 
is  open  only  to  the  States.  Access  to  the  contentious  jurisdic- 
tion is  open  to  the  States  and  their  citizens. 

ART.  50. — The  States  consider  it  their  duty,  if  an  acute  conflict 
threatens  to  arise  between  two  or  more  of  them,  to  remind  such 
States  that  the  International  Judicature  is  open  to  them.  Con- 
sequently the  fact  of  so  reminding  the  States  at  variance  can 
only  be  regarded  as  in  the  nature  of  good  offices. 

ART.  51. — If  a  question  of  law  to  be  decided  is  covered  by  a  con- 
vention in  force  between  the  States  which  are  themselves  or 
whose  subjects  or  citizens  are  parties  to  the  proceedings,  the 
competent  jurisdiction  is  to  be  governed  by  the  provisions  of 
the  said  convention.  Otherwise  it  shall  apply  the  rules  of 
international  law.  If  no  generally  recognized  rules  exist,  the 
competent  jurisdiction  shall  give  judgment  in  accordance  with 
the  general  principles  of  justice  and  equity. 

ART.  52. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  submit  in  good  faith 
to  the  decisions  of  the  competent  jurisdictions  and  to  carry 
them  out  with  the  least  possible  delay. 

ART.  53. — The   International   Judicature   has   its   seat  at   The 


108  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

Hague.  The  International  Court  of  Justice  and  the  Interna- 
tional Council  of  Conciliation  cannot  transfer  their  seat  else- 
where except  in  circumstances  beyond  their  control. 

The  States,  however,  reserve  the  right  to  fix  elsewhere  the 
seat  of  a  Commission  of  Inquiry  or  of  an  Arbitral  Tribunal,  if 
special  circumstances  render  such  a  step  necessary.  The  seat 
once  fixed  may  not,  except  in  circumstances  beyond  their  con- 
trol, be  transferred  elsewhere  by  the  commissioners  or  the  arbi- 
trators, without  the  consent  of  the  parties. 

ART.  54. — There  is  created,  at  the  seat  of  the  International  Judi- 
cature, an  International  Court  Office,  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  International  Administrative  Council,  which  appoints 
its  officers  and  employees,  determines  its  annual  budget  and 
formulates  its  organic  regulations. 

ART.  55. — A  Permanent  Judicial  Delegation  is  instituted,  made 
up  of  three  titular  and  three  substitute  judges  chosen  annually 
from  and  by  the  International  Court  of  Justice  and  intrusted 
with  the  task  of  acting  in  cases  of  urgency  or  at  the  request  of 
the  parties,  as  well  as  on  the  admissibility  of  appeals  by  pri- 
vate persons  against  decisions  of  national  tribunals. 

ART.  56. — The  International  Court  of  Justice  shall  meet  each 
year  in  General  Assembly  to  deliberate  on  improvements  to  be 
introduced  in  the  International  Judicial  Organization.  The 
propositions  drafted  by  it  shall  be  transmitted,  by  the  interpo- 
sition of  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship,  to  the 
International  Preparatory  Committee  to  be  submitted  by  it  to 
the  next  Conference. 

THIRD  TITLE 
INTERNATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

ART.  57. — The  States  confirm  the  conventions  concluded  by  all 
or  several  of  them  with  the  aim  of  securing  their  collective 
collaboration  in  endeavors  and  services  of  international  inter- 
est, and  pledge  themselves  to  adhere  to  those  conventions  which 
they  have  not  already  signed. 

ART.  58. — The  States  shall  consult  together  with  the  object  of 


MAGNISSIMA  CHAKTA  109 

multiplying,  with  the  shortest  delay  possible,  similar  endeavors 
and  services  in  all  domains  of  human  activity. 

In  the  elaboration  of  these  endeavors  and  services  a  special 
appeal  shall  be  made  for  the  collaboration  of  international  or- 
ganizations of  private  initiative. 

ART.  59. — An  International  Administrative  Bureau  is  estab- 
lished to  co-ordinate  the  activities  of  the  various  organisms  es- 
tablished by  the  above  mentioned  conventions,  to  facilitate  the 
fulfilment  of  their  task  and  to  promote  the  creation  of  new 
organisms.  Each  State  shall  appoint  a  service  intrusted  with 
its  international  administrative  relations  to  be  represented  by 
one  delegate  in  the  International  Administrative  Bureau. 
ART.  60. — The  International  Administrative  Bureau  deliberates, 
the  delegate  of  the  State  on  the  territory  of  which  it  meets 
presiding.  It  formulates  its  bylaws  and  organizes  the  perma- 
nent services  it  deems  necessary  to  the  fulfilment  of  its  mis- 
sion. It  appoints  their  remunerated  employees. 

It  may  institute  departments  more  specially  intrusted  with 
the  management  of  connected  services;  it  is  however  agreed 
that  the  autonomy  of  the  international  organizations  will  be 
respected  as  largely  as  possible. 

There  shall  be  established,  near  the  various  services  or  de- 
partments, High  Consultative  Councils,  composed  of  delegates 
appointed  by  the  free  international  groups  interested  in  the 
work  performed  by  those  services  or  departments. 

The  seat  of  the  International  Administrative  Bureau  is  at 
Brussels.  The  traveling  expenses  and  the  eventual  indemni- 
ties granted  to  the  delegates  are  at  the  charge  of  their  respec- 
tive governments. 

ART.  61. — A  Permanent  Administrative  Council  is  appointed  to 
control  the  operations  of  the  International  Permanent  Secre- 
taryship and  of  the  International  Court  Office.  It  is  com- 
posed of  the  diplomatic  representatives  accredited  to  The 
Hague  and  of  the  Netherlands'  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
It  meets,  the  latter  or  in  his  absence  the  oldest  member  acting 
as  president. 

The  Council  settles  its  rules  of  procedure.  It  decides  all 
questions  of  mere  administration  which  may  arise  with  regard 


110  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

to  the  business  of  the  Conference  of  States  and  of  the  Inter- 
national Judicature. 

The  Council's  deliberations  are  valid  if  nine  members  are 
present.  It  may  intrust  to  some  of  its  members  the  daily 
administration,  and  it  may  be  aided  by  salaried  employees. 

The  Council  communicates  to  the  States  the  regulations 
adopted  by  it.  It  furnishes  them  with  an  annual  report  on 
the  labors  accomplished  under  its  control  and  the  expenditures 
made. 

ART.  62. — The  States  participate  in  the  preparation  of  an  Inter- 
national Budget  intended  to  cover  the  expenses  of  the  various 
international  institutions,  official  and  private.  This  budget  is 
biennial  and  is  adopted  during  each  session  of  the  Conference 
of  States. 

It  shall  be  supported  by  annual  payments  made  by  the  States 
in  the  proportion  fixed  for  the  International  Bureau  of  the 
Universal  Postal  Union.  These  payments  shall  be  made  dur- 
ing the  month  of  January. 

The  expenses  agreed  upon  by  special  conventions  for  the 
management  of  international  institutions  shall  be  embodied  in 
the  International  Budget  and  borne  by  all  the  States. 
ART.  63. — An  International  Financial  Committee  is  intrusted 
with  making  out  the  International  Budget  and  its  reference 
to  the  States  with  an  explanatory  statement  three  months  be- 
fore each  session  of  the  Conference  of  States.  This  Committee 
is  composed  of  one  delegate  for  each  State  selected  from  the 
high  officers  in  the  financial  service.  A  State  may  intrust  its 
representation  to  a  delegate  of  another  State ;  no  delegate,  how- 
ever, may  represent  more  than  two  States. 

The  International  Financial  Committee  is  intrusted  with  the 
high  direction  of  the  International  Treasury;  it  appoints  its 
personnel,  fixes  its  expenses  and  formulates  its  organic  regu- 
lations. 

It  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  year  at  the  seat  of  the  Inter- 
national Treasury  and  inspect  the  operations  thereof.  These 
operations  are  conducted  under  the  supervision  of  the  financial 
controlling  organization  of  the  State  where  the  International 


MAGNISSIMA  CHAETA  111 

Treasury  is  situated;  this  organization  shall  have  charge  of 
validating  its  orders  of  payment. 

FOURTH  TITLE 
GENERAL  AND  TRANSITORY  PROVISIONS 

ART.  64. — The  functions  of  judge  of  the  International  Court  of 
Justice,  those  of  clerk  of  the  International  Court  Office  and  of 
the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship  are  incompatible 
with  any  national  functions  whatever. 

The  persons  appointed  to  these  functions  are  denationalized 
during  their  incumbency  and  are  placed  under  the  collective 
safeguard  of  the  States.  As  to  the  preservation  of  their  civil 
interests  they  may,  however,  appeal  to  the  legislation  of  their 
native  country. 

ART.  65. — Delegates  to  the  Conference  of  States,  members  of  the 
amicable  and  arbitral  jurisdictions,  of  the  International  Ad- 
ministrative Bureau  and  of  the  International  Financial  Com- 
mittee, during  the  continuance  of  their  mandate,  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  exterritoriality. 

ART.  66. — Neither  international  titles  nor  orders  exist.  During 
the  continuance  of  their  mandate,  the  persons  enumerated  in 
the  previous  article  shall  be  designated  only  by  the  denomina- 
tion of  their  international  functions. 

ART.  67. — The  States  shall  create  a  free  international  traveling 
ticket  in  behalf  of  the  delegates,  officers  and  members  of  the 
various  international  institutions  and  of  a  person  in  their 
company.  The  postal  franchise  shall  also  be  granted  to  them 
for  their  official  correspondence.  The  free  international  insti- 
tutions may  benefit  by  these  advantages  through  the  medium 
of  the  Permanent  International  Secretaryship. 

ART.  68. — At  the  request  of  five  States  revision  may  be  under- 
taken of  one  or  several  designated  provisions  of  the  present 
convention  or  of  the  complementary  conventions;  the  same 
number  of  States  may  also  propose  the  introduction  of  new 
provisions. 

This  request  shall  reach  the  Permanent  International  Secre- 
taryship at  least  one  year  before  the  next  meeting  of  the  Con- 


112  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

ference  of  States;  it  shall  be  forwarded  immediately  to  the 
other  States  and  to  the  International  Preparatory  Committee. 
The  request  shall  include  an  explanatory  note  and  shall  be 
submitted  to  the  Conference  of  States  with  a  report  of  the 
International  Preparatory  Committee. 

A  proposed  modification  shall  be  adopted  only  if  it  is  ac- 
cepted by  four-fifths  of  the  States. 

ART.  69. — Complementary  and  regulatory  conventions  shall  be 
immediately  concluded  by  the  States  in  order  to  secure  the 
realization  of  the  provisions  of  the  present  convention. 

Their  subjects  shall  be:  the  international  judicial  organiza- 
tion; the  methods  of  constraint  and  the  use  of  armed  force; 
the  procedure  to  be  followed  by  national  communities  in  order 
to  secure  their  autonomy  or  the  redress  of  their  grievances; 
the  regulation  of  emigration ;  the  establishment  of  councils  of 
management  and  the  protection  of  backward  populations;  the 
colonial  regime ;  the  customs  regime. 

ART.  70. — In  the  above-mentioned  conventions  are  to  be  em- 
bodied, in  proper  terms,  the  provisions  of  the  present  conven- 
tion containing  the  principles  relating  to  these  conventions. 

ART.  71. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  include  in  their  penal 
laws  provisions  intended  to  inflict  severe  penalties  on  those 
who,  by  lies,  calumnies,  insinuations  and  insults,  attempt  to 
disparage  foreign  peoples  or  to  excite  them  one  against  another. 
The  States  afford  to  their  respective  diplomatic  and  consular 
agents  the  right  to  impeach  the  offenders  and  if  necessary  to 
summon  them  before  the  competent  jurisdictions. 

ART.  72. — The  States  pledge  themselves,  if  they  have  not  done 
so  already,  to  change  the  names  of  their  offices,  secretaryships 
or  ministries  of  foreign  affairs,  war  and  navy;  these  will  be 
respectively  named  offices,  secretaryships  or  ministries  of  inter- 
national relations,  national  defense  and  naval  defense. 


COMPLEMENTARY  CONVENTIONS 

1.  JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION 

2.  SANCTION,  COERCION  AND  DEFENSE 

3.  CIRCULATION  OP  MEN 


I 

JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION 

EXPLANATORY   NOTE 

1.  The  following  complementary  convention  combines,  in  one 
co-ordinated  whole,  the  provisions  of  the  Convention  for  the 
Pacific  Settlement  of  International  Disputes  and  those  of  the 
Conventions  concerning  the  International  Prize  Court  and  the 
Court  of  Arbitral  Justice  as  they  were  drafted  by  the  Peace  Con- 
ference of  1907.     It  is  largely  a  reproduction  of  a  project  of 
co-ordination  we  prepared  for  the  Interparliamentary  Confer- 
ence to  be  held  at  Stockholm  in  1914.    The  only  alterations  we 
have  introduced  in  this  project  were  made  in  order  to  apply  the 
principle  that  all  disputes  ought  to  be  settled  in  an  amicable  or 
contentious  way.    Besides,  we  have  completed  this  project  by 
adding  articles  devoted  to  the  Permanent  Commissions  of  In- 
quiry and  to  the  International  Council  of  Conciliation. 

To  make  easier  comparison  between  the  texts  of  the  original 
conventions  and  the  text  we  drafted  we  have  printed  in  italics 
all  the  new  provisions  and  replaced  by  dots  the  suppressed  parts 
of  some  articles. 

To  a  similar  end  a  special  table  brings  into  relation  the  arti- 
cles of  the  various  conventions  and  those  of  our  project. 

2.  The  proposed  convention  will  be  subdivided  as  follows : 

FIRST  TITLE 
AMICABLE  JURISDICTION 

Chapter  I 
Good  Offices  and  Mediation 

Chapter  II 

Commissions  of  Inquiry 
115 


116  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

Chapter  III 
International  Council  of  Conciliation 

SECOND  TITLE 
ARBITRAL  JURISDICTION 

THIRD  TITLE 
CONTENTIOUS  JURISDICTION 

FOURTH  TITLE 
INTERNATIONAL  PROCEDURE 

FIFTH  TITLE 
GENERAL  PROVISIONS 

A  preliminary  title  reproduces,  in  accordance  with  Art.  69  of 
the  organic  convention  of  the  Society  of  States,  the  articles  de- 
voted in  it  to  the  judicial  organization. 

3.  We  have  rallied  to  the  principle  that  the  International  Court 
of  Justice  is  competent  for  all  conflicts  having  a  judiciary  char- 
acter. This  jurisdiction  will  be  subdivided  into  chambers  ac- 
cording to  the  needs  which  practice  will  disclose ;  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  allow  the  Court  to  adopt  in  this  respect  such  measures 
and  regulations  as  circumstances  will  point  out  as  the  more  fit. 

The  most  delicate  question,  however,  is  that  relating  to  the 
choice  of  the  judges.  It  is  generally  known  that  it  was  the  im- 
possibility for  the  delegates  to  the  second  Peace  Conference  to 
come  to  a  satisfactory  solution  which  caused  the  establishment  of 
the  Court  of  Arbitral  Justice  to  fail.  It  was  mainly  because  the 
States,  called  by  themselves  the  Great  Powers,  claimed  the  right 
each  to  elect  a  permanent  judge  at  least  to  the  Court,  that  all  the 
other  States  raised  a  unanimous  opposition. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  principle  of  equality  between  States 
ought  to  be  respected  and  we  think  that,  by  the  system  advocated 
by  us,  satisfaction  is  given  to  that  legitimate  revendication.  By 
this  system  each  State  nominates  as  many  candidates  as  there 
are  judges  composing  the  Court ;  one-third  at  least  of  these  candi- 
dates ought  to  be  citizens  of  another  State  than  the  State  by 
which  they  are  nominated.  Consequently  the  most  distinguished 
jurists  of  the  world  will  be  necessarily  placed  by  a  great  number 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  117 

of  States  on  the  lists  of  their  candidates.  All  the  States  will 
subsequently  take  part  in  the  balloting  with  an  equal  voting 
power. 

4.  What  also  characterizes  our  project  is  the  fact  that  we  have 
placed  under  one  title  the  whole  international  procedure.     In 
the  various  conventions,  agreed  upon  by  the  Peace  Conferences, 
numerous  assimilations  have  already  been  made ;  besides,  a  large 
extension  was  given  in  1907  to  the  hearing  of  witnesses  by  the 
International  Commissions  of  Inquiry.     We  have  found  that  it 
was  very  easy  to  co-ordinate  these  various  provisions  and  to  apply 
them  within  all  jurisdictions. 

5.  The  constitution  of  the  International  Council  of  Concilia- 
tion and  its  working  have  called  for  more  special  attention.     The 
idea  of  creating  a  new  institution,  which  would  be  neither  a 
judiciary  body,  properly  speaking,  nor  a  diplomatic  gathering 
in  the  traditional  sense  of  this  expression,  is  an  entirely  new  one 
which  met,  in  the  most  various  minds,  with  all  the  more  com- 
pliance because  the  conception  of  such  an  institution  was  more 
vague  and  undefined.     No  clear  and  detailed  formula  has  been 
proposed  till  now.    Would  it  be  well  to  pattern  after  the  Berlin 
Conference  of  1878,  the  Algeciras  Conference  or  the  London 
Conference  of  1913?     The  too-exelusively  diplomatic  formation 
of  these  assemblies  and  the  direct  interests  of  most  of  the  repre- 
sented States  in  the  solutions  to  be  agreed  upon  have  deprived 
their  deliberations  of  the  impartiality  which  ought,  in  our  opin- 
ion, to  prevail  in  an  International  Council  of  Conciliation. 

The  articles  we  have  devoted  to  this  new  institution  are  ex- 
planatory in  themselves.  They  are  a  first  attempt  to  solve  the 
ticklish  problem  before  which  the  representatives  of  the  States 
will  be  placed.  It  would  be  necessary  that  others  should  tackle 
it  and  that,  with  their  aid,  a  project  as  perfect  as  possible  should 
be  submitted  to  the  members  of  the  next  Conference  of  States. 

6.  The  English  text  we  have  used  in  drafting  the  proposed 
convention  is  the  translation  of  the  Final  Act  of  the  Second 
Peace  Conference  as  it  was  published  in  a  blue  paper  of  the 


118 


THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 


British  Government.  This  translation  has  no  international  offi- 
cial weight  and  is  not  always  adequate.  But  we  think  it  is  use- 
less to  introduce  rectifications  which  it  would  be  necessary  to 
explain.  Also  many  provisions  of  secondary  importance  should 

TABLE   OF   CONCORDANCE 


Court  of  Arbitral 
Justice 

Pacific 

Settlement  of  International 
Disputes 

International 
Prize  Court 

1 

56 

1 

— 

45 

51 

1 

— 

2,1 

57 

2 

12 

46,1'3 

55 

2 

— 

2,2 

— 

3 

13 

46,4 

127 

3 

— 

3 

58 

4 

14 

47 

41 

4 

72 

4 

59 

5 

15 

48 

8 

5 

73 

5,1 

127 

6 

16 

49 

118 

6,1 

74 

5,2 

60 

7 

— 

50 

119 

6,2 

— 

6,1 

120 

8 

17 

51 

117 

V-3 

9 

6,2 

61 

9 

18 

52 

52 

7>4-5 

— 

6,3 

— 

10 

19 

53 

53 

8 

— 

7 

61 

II,1-2 

11 

54 

54 

9 

10 

8 

62 

IV 

83 

55 

46 

10 

— 

9 

63 

12 

19 

56 

47 

11 

— 

10 

64 

13 

21 

57 

48 

12 

59 

11 

11 

14 

84 

58 

49 

13,1 

127 

12 

118 

15 

69 

59 

50 

13,2 

60 

13 

69 

16 

22 

60 

11 

14 

— 

14 

— 

17 

87 

61 

83 

15 

— 

15 

125 

18 

87 

62 

84 

16 

— 

16 

— 

19/ 

89 

63 

96 

17 

— 

17 

— 

19,2 

88 

64 

96 

18 

— 

18 

121 

20 

93 

65 

97 

19 

62 

19 

122 

21 

94 

66 

108 

20,1'2 

63 

20 

122 

22 

100 

67 

98 

20,3 

64 

21 

7 

23 

104 

68 

99 

21 

11 

22 

— 

24 

86 

69 

100 

22 

118 

JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION 


119 


TABLE  OF  CONCORDANCE     (Continued) 


Court  of  Arbitral 
Justice 

Pacific 

Settlement  of  International 
Disputes 

International 
Prize  Court 

23 

83 

25 

89 

70 

104 

23                  6J 

24 

96 

26 

90 

71 

101 

24                  & 

25 

86 

27 

91 

72 

102 

25                  & 

26 

108 

28 

92 

73 

103 

26                  81 

27 

110 

29 

95 

74 

103 

27                  81 

28 

111 

30 

110 

75 

104 

28,1               7! 

29 

113 

31 

108 

76 

86 

28,2               71 

30 

123 

32 

109 

77 

109 

29                  81 

31 

119 

33 

24 

78 

110 

30 

32 

68 

34 

112 

79 

111 

31                  T 

33 

117 

35 

25 

80 

112 

32                  7 

36 

113 

81 

112 

33                  7 

37,1 

38 

82 

114 

34                 9 

37,2 

10 

83 

115 

35,12             9 

38 

39 

84 

116 

35,3              10 

39 

40 

85 

113 

36                10 

40 

— 

86 

— 

37                10 

41 

43 

87 

— 

38                10 

42 

— 

88 

— 

39                10 

43,1 

11 

89 

— 

40                 8 

43,' 

69 

90 

— 

41                10 

43,34 

42 

42 

44,15 

44 

43                11 

44,a7 

45 

44                11 

45                11 

46                11 

47                11 

48                12 

49                  6 

50                11 

51 

120  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

be  modified,  but  we  fear  that,  in  trying  to  draft  a  more  elaborate 
scheme,  sight  would  be  lost  of  the  most  important  changes  which 
are  to  be  realized  first.  We  reserve  our  right  to  devote  a  subse- 
quent study  to  the  modifications,  improvements  and  simplifica- 
tions which  could  and  should  be  adopted  by  the  next  Conference 
of  States  in  order  to  secure  to  the  world  a  Judicial  Organization 
as  perfect  as  possible. 

Some  explanations  are  necessary  about  the  articles  which  are 
not  included  in  our  project : 

Court  of  Arbitral  Justice,  Art.  2,  par.  2,  and  Art.  16 ;  Interna- 
tional Prize  Court,  Arts.  10,  11,  14-18. — These  provisions  regu- 
late the  nomination  and  rotation  of  the  judges.  By  the  fact  that 
we  have  adopted  the  system  of  one  court  subdivided  into  cham- 
bers, these  provisions  of  course  are  to  be  withdrawn. 

Court  of  Arbitral  Justice,  Art.  6,  par.  3. — This  provision  ap- 
plies a  general  principle  which  it  seemed  useless  for  us  to  quote. 

Court  of  Arbitral  Justice,  Art.  14. — This  article  rules  the  an- 
nual sessions  of  the  court;  in  our  system  the  court  is  always  in 
session. 

Court  of  Arbitral  Justice,  Art.  17;  Pacific  Settlement,  Arts. 
40,  42;  International  Prize  Court,  Art.  42. — These  provisions 
regulate  the  limited  competency  of  the  various  courts ;  in  our 
system  all  disputes  are  to  be  settled  by  one  or  another  of  the 
jurisdictional  modes  included  in  our  project. 

Court  of  Arbitral  Justice,  Art.  22. — This  article  provides  for 
the  application  to  this  court  of  the  procedure  to  be  used  by  the 
Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration.  This  assimilation  is  precisely 
the  main  aim  of  our  project. 

Pacific  Settlement,  Arts.  86-90. — Provisions  which  provide  for 
a  summary  procedure  of  arbitration  which  seems  to  us  without 
practical  value.  Arbitration,  as  it  is  agreed  upon,  is  itself  very 
summary ;  in  fact,  the  proposed  procedure  was  never  applied. 
The  provision  (Art.  121),  by  which  the  Permanent  Judicial  Dele- 
gation may  sit  as  an  Arbitration  Tribunal,  will  give  a  similar 
opportunity  to  settle  rapidly  disputes  of  less  importance. 

International  Prize  Court,  Arts.  1-3,  Art.  7,  pars.  4  and  5, 
Art.  8. — Provisions  which  rule  the  matter  of  prizes  and  cannot 
be  introduced  in  a  project  as  general  as  ours.  In  fact.  Arts.  1-3 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  121 

apply  principles  laid  down  in  Arts.  4  and  7  of  our  project. 

International  Prize  Court,  Art.  6,  par.  2,  and  Art.  30. — These 
provisions  allude  to  a  principle  which  could  be  applied  to  other 
disputes,  but  it  is  not  a  question  so  important  as  to  be  included 
in  a  general  project. 

International  Prize  Court,  Art.  42. — This  article  consecrates 
the  right  of  free  appreciation  by  the  judges  of  evidence  and 
arguments.  To  proclaim  such  an  obvious  principle  would  infer 
a  doubt  about  its  application  in  international  differences. 

COMPLEMENTARY  CONVENTION  FOB  THE  AMICABLE  AND  JUDICIARY 
SETTLEMENT  OF  INTERNATIONAL  DISPUTES 

PRELIMINARY  TITLE 

ART.  1. — All  conflicts  between  States  shall  be  settled  in  an  amicable 
or  contentious  manner  [M.  C.,1  Art.  21]. 

ART.  2. — In  order  to  secure  the  peaceful  settlement  of  international 
disputes,  the  States  establish  an  international  judicial  organization. 
This  organization  includes  a  triple  jurisdiction,  amicable,  arbitral  and 
contentious  [M.  C.,  Art.  44]. 

ART.  3. — Amicable  jurisdiction  includes  Good  Offices  and  Mediation, 
the  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  and  the  International  Council 
of  Conciliation.  There  are  established  a  Permanent  Court  of  Arbi- 
tration and  an  International  Court  of  Justice  [M.  C.,  Art.  45]. 

ART.  4. — Considered  as  international  disputes  are  those  which  occur 
between  States,  between  States  and  citizens  of  other  States,  and  between 
citizens  of  two  or  more  States. 

The  States  reserve  the  right  to  submit  to  an  arbitral  or  contentious 
jurisdiction  the  disputes  of  the  two  last  classes  only  in  case  of  appeal 
or  cassation  [M.  C.,  Art.  46]. 

ART.  5. — The  States  may,  by  a  general  or  special  stipulation,  agree  to 
which  of  the  various  jurisdictional  modes  they  wish  to  give  preference 
[M.  C.,  Art.  47]. 

ART.  6. — When  contending  States  are  unable  to  agree  upon  a  special 
jurisdictional  mode  there  will  be  secured  to  the  most  diligent  State  a 
mode  of  procedure  in  order  to  submit  the  dispute  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
its  choice  [M.  C.,  Art.  48]. 

ART.  7. — Access  to  the  amicable  and  arbitral  jurisdictions  is  open 
only  to  the  States.  Access  to  the  contentious  jurisdiction  is  open  to  the 


122  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

States  and  their  citizens.     (C.  J.,1  Art.  21,  C.  P.,  Art.  51)    [M.  C., 
Art.  49]. 

ART.  8. — The  States  consider  it  their  duty,  if  an  acute  conflict 
threatens  to  arise  between  two  or  more  of  them,  to  remind  such  States 
that  the  International  Judicature  is  open  to  them.  Consequently  .  .  . 
the  fact  of  so  reminding  the  States  at  variance  .  .  .  can  only  be  re- 
garded as  in  the  nature  of  good  offices  (R.  C.,  Art.  48)  [M.  C.,  Art.  50], 

ART.  9. — If  a  question  of  law  to  be  decided  is  covered  by  a  conven- 
tion in  force  between  the  States  which  are  themselves  or  whose 
subjects  or  citizens  are  parties  to  the  proceedings,  the  competent  juris- 
diction is  to  be  governed  by  the  provisions  of  the  said  convention. 
Otherwise  it  shall  apply  the  rules  of  international  law.  If  no  gen- 
erally recognized  rules  exist,  the  competent  jurisdiction  shall  give  judg- 
ment in  accordance  with  the  general  principles  of  justice  and  equity 
(C.  P.,  Art.  7,  pars.  1  and  2)  [M.  C.,  Art.  51]. 

The  above  provisions  apply  equally  to  questions  relating  to  the  order 
and  mode  of  proof  (C.  P.,  Art.  7,  par.  3). 

ART.  10. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  submit  in  good  faith  to 
the  decisions  of  the  competent  jurisdiction  and  to  carry  them  out  with 
the  least  possible  delay  (R,  C.,  Art.  37,  par.  2,  C.  P.,  Art.  9)  [M.  C., 
Art.  52]. 

ART.  11. — The  International  Judicature  has  its  seat  at  The  Hague. 
The  International  Court  of  Justice  and  the  International  Council  of 
Conciliation  cannot  transfer  their  seat  elsewhere  except  in  circum- 
stances beyond  their  control. 

The  States,  however,  reserve  the  right  to  fix  elsewhere  the  seat  of 
a  Commission  of  Inquiry  or  of  an  Arbitral  Tribunal,  if  circumstances 
render  such  a  step  necessary.  The  seat  once  fixed  may  not,  except  in 
circumstances  beyond  their  control,  be  transferred  elsewhere  by  the 
commissioners  or  the  arbitrators  without  the  consent  of  the  parties 
(C.  J.,  Art.  11 ;  C.  P.,  Art.  21 ;  R.  C.,  Art.  11,  pars.  1  and  2,  Art.  43,  par. 
1,  and  Art.  60)  [M.  C.,  Art.  53]. 

i  M.  C.  indicates  Magnissima  Charta ;  C.  J.,  Court  of  Arbitral  Justice ; 
C.  P.,  International  Court  of  Prize;  and  R.  C.,  Pacific  Settlement  of  Inter- 
national Disputes. 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  123 

FIRST  TITLE 
AMICABLE  JURISDICTION 
i  CHAPTER  i 

GOOD  OFFICES  AND  MEDIATION 

ART.  12. — In  case  of  serious  disagreement  or  dispute,  .  .  .  the 
States  agree  to  have  recourse  ...  to  the  good  offices  or  mediation  of 
one  or  more  friendly  States  (R.  C.,  Art.  2). 

ART.  13. — Independently  of  this  recourse,  the  States  deem  it  ex- 
pedient and  desirable  that  one  or  more  States,  strangers  to  the  dispute, 
should,  on  their  own  initiative  and  in  any  circumstance,  .  .  ,  offer  their 
good  offices  to  the  States  at  variance  .  .  . 

The  exercise  of  this  right  can  never  be  regarded  by  either  of  the  con- 
tending parties  as  an  unfriendly  act  (R.  C.,  Art  3). 

ART.  14. — The  part  of  the  mediator  consists  in  reconciling  the  op- 
posing claims  and  appeasing  the  feelings  of  resentment  which  may 
have  arisen  between  the  States  at  variance  (R.  C.,  Art.  4). 

ART.  15. — The  duties  of  the  mediator  are  at  an  end  when  once  it  is 
declared,  either  by  one  of  the  contending  parties  or  by  the  mediator 
himself,  that  the  means  of  reconciliation  proposed  by  him  are  not 
accepted  (R.  C.,  Art.  5). 

ART.  16. — Good  offices  and  mediation  undertaken  either  at  the 
request  of  the  contending  parties  or  on  the  initiative  of  States  strangers 
to  the  dispute  have  exclusively  the  character  of  advice  and  never 
have  binding  force  (R.  C.,  Art.  6). 

ART.  17. — The  contracting  States  are  agreed  in  recommending  the 
application  ...  of  a  special  mediation  in  the  following  form. 

In  case  of  a  serious  difference  endangering  peace  the  States  at  vari- 
ance choose  respectively  a  State  to  which  they  intrust  the  mission  of 
entering  into  direct  communication  with  the  State  chosen  on  the  other 
side.  .  .  . 

For  the  period  of  this  mandate,  the  term  of  which,  in  default  of 
agreement  to  the  contrary,  may  not  exceed  thirty  days,  the  contending 
States  cease  from  all  direct  communication  on  the  subject  of  the  dis- 
pute,  which  is  regarded  as  deferred  exclusively  to  the  mediating  States. 
These  States  shall  use  their  best  efforts  to  settle  the  dispute  ...  (R.  C., 
Art.  8). 


124  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 


CHAPTER  n 

INTERNATIONAL   COMMISSIONS   OF  INQUIRY 

ART.  18. — In  disputes  of  an  international  nature  .  .  .  ,  arising  from 
a  difference  of  opinion  on  points  of  fact  or  of  right,  the  States  deem 
it  expedient  and  desirable  that  the  parties,  who  have  not  been  able  to 
come  to  an  agreement  by  means  of  diplomacy,  should  .  .  .  have  recourse 
to  an  International  Commission  of  Inquiry,  to  facilitate  a  solution 
of  these  disputes  by  elucidating  the  points  of  fact  or  of  right  by  means 
of  an  impartial  and  conscientious  investigation  (R.  C.,  Art.  9). 

International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  are  occasional  or  permanent. 

ART.  19. — Occasional  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  are  con- 
stituted by  special  agreement  between  the  contending  parties. 

The  Inquiry  Convention  defines  the  points  to  be  examined,  it  deter- 
mines the  manner  and  period  within  which  the  Commission  is  to  be 
formed  and  the  extent  of  the  powers  of  the  commissioners. 

If  the  parties  consider  it  necessary  to  appoint  assessors,  the  Inquiry 
Convention  shall  determine  the  mode  of  their  selection  and  the  extent  of 
their  powers  (R.  C.,  Art.  10). 

In  default  of  agreement  to  the  contrary,  Commissions  of  Inquiry  shall 
be  formed  in  the  manner  determined  by  Articles  48  to  51  of  the  present 
Convention  (R.  C.,  Art.  12). 

ART.  20. — Permanent  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  are  con- 
stituted in  advance  by  the  States  acting  two  by  two  for  the  case  of  a 
dispute  of  any  nature  whatsoever  arising  between  them.  They  shall 
each  be  composed  of  five  members;  each  of  the  States  concerned  shall 
appoint  one  member  from  its  own  citizens  and  another  from  the  citizens 
of  a  third  State;  the  fifth  member,  of  a  nationality  different  from  that 
of  the  other  members,  shall  be  chosen  by  common  agreement  between 
the  two  States. 

The  signatory  States  pledge  themselves  to  constitute  such  Commissions 
with  the  least  possible  delay. 

The  Permanent  International  Commissions  of  Inquiry  may  act  upon 
their  own  initiative,  in  which  case  the  State  concerned  shall  facilitate 
their  investigations  as  thoroughly  as  possible.2 

ART.  21. — Should  one  of  the  commissioners  or  one  of  the  assessors, 
should  there  be  any,  either  die,  resign  or  be  unable  for  any  reason  what- 

2  This  provision,  as  well  as  those  contained  in  Article  23,  is  taken  from 
the  numerous  conventions  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  more 
than  thirty  States,  concluded  upon  the  initiative  of  Mr.  William  J.  Bryan, 
Secretary  of  State. 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  125 

ever  to  act,  the  same  procedure  is  followed  in  filling  his  place  which 
was  followed  in  appointing  him  (R.  C.,  Art.  13). 

ART.  22. — If  the  Commission  meets  elsewhere  than  at  The  Hague,  it 
appoints  a  secretary  general,  whose  office  serves  as  registry.  It  is  the 
function  of  the  registry,  under  the  control  of  the  president,  to  make 
the  necessary  arrangements  for  the  sittings  of  the  Commission,  the 
preparation  of  the  minutes  and,  while  the  inquiry  lasts,  for  the  custody 
of  the  archives,  which  shall  subsequently  be  transferred  to  the  Inter- 
national Court  Office  at  The  Hague  (R.  C.,  Art.  16). 

ART.  23. — The  report  of  each  Commission  shall  be  completed  within 
one  year  after  the  date  on  which  it  shall  declare  its  investigation  to 
have  begun,  unless  the  States  concerned  shall  extend  the  time  by  mutual 
agreement.  The  report  shall  be  prepared  in  'triplicate,  one  copy  shall 
be  presented  to  each  of  the  parties  and  the  third  filed  in  the  archives  of 
the  International  Court  Office  at  The  Hague. 

ART.  24. — The  report  is  signed  by  all  the  members  of  the  Commission. 
If  one  of  the  members  refuses  to  sign,  the  fact  is  mentioned,  but  the 
validity  of  the  report  is  not  affected  (R.  C.,  Art.  33). 

ART.  25. — The  report  of  the  Commission,  being  limited  to  a  finding 
of  fact  or  of  law,  has  in  no  way  the  character  of  an  arbitral  award. 
It  leaves  to  the  parties  entire  freedom  as  to  the  effect  to  be  given  to 
the  finding  (R.  C.,  Art.  35). 

CHAPTER  in 

INTERNATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF   CONCILIATION 

ART.  26. — An  International  Council  of  Conciliation  is  constituted, 
composed  of  representatives  of  all  the  States.  The  States  may  be  repre- 
sented by  three  delegates  if  their  population  exceeds  twenty  millions, 
by  two  delegates  if  it  numbers  from  three  to  twenty  millions,  by  one 
delegate  if  it  w  below  three  millions  but  is  not  less  than  five  hundred 
thousand.3 

»The  votes  would  be  shared  as  follows: 

Argentina 7,000,000  2  Costa  Rica 400,000 

Austria-Hungary    .   52,000,000  3  Cuba    2,500,000  1 

Belgium    7,500,000  2  Denmark     2,800,000  1 

Bolivia    2,000,000  1  Ecuador    1,500,000  1 

Brazil    24,500,000  3  France 40,000,000  3 

Bulgaria    4,500,000  2  Germany 65,000,000  3 

Chile    3,500,000  2  Great  Britain    46,000,000  3 

China     439,000,000  3  Greece    3.000,000  2 

Colombia 5,000,000  2  Guatemala    1, 1)00,000  1 


126 


THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 


ART.  27. — The  delegates  shall  be  chosen  from  among  persons  specially 
competent  in  political,  historical  and  economical  sciences. 

ART.  28. — The  International  Council  of  Conciliation  has  the  mission 
of  conciliating  and  adjusting  all  differences  occurring  between  States 
and  not  having  a  strictly  judiciary  character,  either  referred  to  it  by 
one  or  another  international  jurisdiction,  or  directly  submitted  to  it  by 
a  common  agreement  of  the  States  in  variance. 

The  States  pledge  themselves  to  bring  before  it  all  differences  they 
consider  as  unfit  to  be  submitted  to  one  of  the  other  jurisdictions  insti- 
tuted by  the  present  convention. 

The  International  Council  of  Conciliation  is  specially  competent  to 
settle  differences  occurring  about  the  modification  or  revision  of  con- 
ventions and  treaties  other  than  those  agreed  upon  by  the  Conference  of 
States,  as  well  as  requests  made  in  order  to  secure  or  guarantee  the 
independence  of  national  communities  or  the  rights  of  populations  in 
polyethnic  States. 

ART.  29. — The  International  Council  of  Conciliation  meets  in  plenary 
or  partial  assemblies.  The  partial  assemblies  are  those  composed  only 
of  the  representatives  of  the  States  of  one  continent,  or  of  the  States 
bordering  the  same  ocean  or  sea,  or  of  the  signatory  States  of  a  single 
convention,  or  of  the  States  in  possession  of  colonies. 

The  States,  whose  representatives  would  not  normally  be  members  of  a 
partial  assembly,  may  nevertheless  take  part  in  it,  if  these  States  are  of 
the  opinion  that  they  are  concerned. 

ART.  30. — The  International  Council  of  Conciliation  meets  at  least 


Haiti    2,500,000 

Honduras    600,000 

Italy    35,000,000 

Japan    53,000,000 

Liberia    1,500,000 

Luxemburg     260,000 

Mexico     16,000,000 

Monaco    20,000 

Montenegro    250,000 

Netherlands    5,700,000 

Nicaragua    600,000 

Norway 2,500,000 

Panama 400,000 

Paraguay    1,000,000 

Peru     4,600,000 


1  Persia    6,000,000  2 

1  Portugal   6,000,000  2 

3  Rumania 7,500,000  2 

3  Russia 173,000,000  3 

1  San  Domingo 750,000  1 

—  Salvador   1,200,000  1 

2  Serbia    3,000,000  2 

—  Siam    8,200,000  2 

—  Spain 20,000,000  3 

2  Sweden    5,500,000  2 

1  Switzerland    3,800,000  2 

1  Turkey    20,500,000  3 

—  United  States    98,500,000  3 

1  Uruguay   1,200,000  1 

2  Venezuela   2,600,000  1 


12  States  with  three  votes  36 

16  States  with  two  votes   32    }•    83 

15  States  with  one  vote    .  .  .  15 


JTJDICIAEY  ORGANIZATION  127 

once  a  year  in  a  plenary  session  in  order  to  appoint  its  Bureau  composed 
of  a  president,  two  vice-presidents  and  two  secretaries;  they  shall  be 
citizens  of  different  States.  The  representatives  of  a  State  shall  be 
ineligible  to  the  presidency  during  the  ten  years  following  the  election 
of  one  of  them  to  this  function;  the  same  rule  shall  be  applied  to  the 
other  functions  of  the  Bureau,  but  the  ineligibility  period  shall  be 
reduced  to  five  years. 

ART.  31. — The  International  Council  of  Conciliation  has  the  right  to 
delegate  its  powers  to  some  of  its  members,  intrusted  with  the  task  either 
of  reporting  to  the  plenary  assembly  or  of  deciding  finally. 

ART.  32. — The  International  Council  of  Conciliation  deliberates  val- 
idly  if  four-fifths  of  its  members  are  present.  When  a  solution  will 
have  the  adhesion  of  seven-tenths  of  the  States  represented  and  repre- 
senting at  least  the  half  of  the  whole  population  of  the  globe,  the 
States  pledge  themselves  to  yield  to  this  solution. 

ART.  33. — The  representatives  of  the  States  directly  interested  in  a 
difference  submitted  to  the  International  Council  of  Conciliation  shall 
have  only  a  consultative  voice  in  its  deliberations. 

ART.  34. — The  International  Council  of  Conciliation  formulates  its 
organic  regulations.  The  International  Court  Office  acts  as  its  adminis- 
trative agency. 

The  members  of  the  Bureau  shall  permanently  reside  at  The  Hague 
during  the  continuance  of  their  mandate.  At  their  intervention  the 
International  Court  Office  shall  forward  the  necessary  calls  and  secure 
the  material  preparation  of  the  various  assemblies. 

ART.  35. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  supply  the  International 
Council  of  Conciliation  with  all  information  whatsoever  able  to  enlighten 
it  about  the  difference  in  which  they  may  be  eventually  involved. 

ART.  36. — The  members  of  the  International  Council  of  Conciliation 
are  not  allowed,  during  the  continuance  of  their  mandate,  to  fulfill  an 
international  or  a  national  function  or  to  receive,  from  their  own  gov- 
ernment or  the  government  of  any  other  State,  any  remuneration  or 
honorific  acknowledgment. 

ART.  37. — The  traveling  expenses  of  the  members  of  the  International 
Council  of  Conciliation  are  at  the  charge  of  the  States  they  represent. 
They  may  besides  receive  an  indemnity  equivalent  to  the  fees  or  salaries 
they  enjoyed  before  their  appointment. 


128  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

SECOND  TITLE 
ARBITRAL  JURISDICTION 

ART.  38. — International  Arbitration  has  for  its  object  the  settlement 
of  disputes  between  States  by  judges  of  their  choice  and  on  the  basis 
of  respect  for  law  (R.  C.,  Art.  37,  par.  1). 

ART.  39. — In  questions  of  a  legal  nature  and  especially  in  the  inter- 
pretation or  application  of  international  conventions,  arbitration  is 
recognized  by  the  States  as  the  most  effective  and,  at  the  same  time, 
the  most  equitable  means  of  arranging  disputes  which  diplomacy  has 
failed  to  settle  ...  (R.  C.,  Art.  38). 

ART.  40. — The  arbitration  convention  is  concluded  for  questions 
already  existing  or  for  questions  which  may  arise  eventually. 

It  may  embrace  any  dispute  or  only  disputes  of  a  certain  category 
(R.  C.,  Art.  39). 

ART.  41. — The  International  Court  Office  is  authorized  to  place  its 
offices  and  staff  at  the  disposal  of  the  States  for  the  use  of  any  special 
body  of  arbitrators. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Permanent  Court  may,  within  the  conditions 
laid  down  in  the  regulations,  be  extended  to  disputes  between  non-sig- 
natory States,  or  between  signatory  and  non-signatory  States,  if  the  par- 
ties are  agreed  to  have  recourse  to  the  Court  (R.  C.,  Art.  47). 

ART.  42. — The  States  undertake  to  communicate  to  the  Court  Office, 
as  soon  as  possible,  a  duly  certified  copy  of  any  arbitration  agreement 
arrived  at  between  them  and  of  any  award  concerning  them  delivered 
by  a  special  tribunal. 

They  likewise  undertake  to  communicate  to  the  Court  Office  the  laws, 
regulations  and  documents  indicating  the  execution,  in  due  course,  of 
the  awards  given  by  the  Court  (R.  C.,  Art.  43,  pars.  3  and  4.) 

ART.  43. — With  the  object  of  facilitating  an  immediate  recourse  to 
arbitration  for  international  differences,  which  it  has  not  been  possible 
to  settle  by  diplomacy,  the  States  undertake  to  maintain  a  Permanent 
Court  of  Arbitration  .  .  .  accessible  at  all  times,  and  acting,  in  default 
of  agreement  to  the  contrary  between  the  parties,  in  accordance  with 
the  rules  of  procedure  inserted  in  the  present  Convention  (R.  C., 
Art.  41). 

ART.  44. — Each  State  selects  four  persons  at  the  most,  of  known 
competency  in  questions  of  international  law,  of  the  highest  moral  repu- 
tation and  disposed  to  accept  the  duties  of  arbitrator. 

Two  or  more  States  may  agree  on  the  selection  in  common  of  one 
or  more  members.  The  same  person  may  be  selected  by  different 
States. 


JUDICIAKY  ORGANIZATION  129 

The  persons  thus  selected  are  inscribed,  as  members  of  the  Court,, 
in  a  list  which  shall  be  notified  to  all  the  contracting  States  by  the  Inter- 
national Court  Office. 

All  alteration  in  the  list  of  arbitrators  is  brought  by  the  Court  Office 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  States  (R.  C.,  Art.  44,  pars.  1-5). 

ART.  45. — The  members  of  the  Court  are  appointed  for  a  term  of 
six  years.  Their  appointments  can  be  renewed. 

Should  a  member  of  the  Court  die  or  resign,  the  same  procedure  is 
followed  in  filling  his  place  which  was  followed  in  appointing  him.  In 
this  case  the  appointment  is  made  for  a  fresh  period  of  six  years  (R.  C.r 
Art.  44,  pars.  6  and  7). 

ART.  46. — The  duties  of  arbitrator  may  be  conferred  on  a  single  arbi- 
trator or  on  several  arbitrators  selected  by  the  parties  as  they  please,, 
or  chosen  by  them  from  the  members  of  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbi- 
tration established  by  the  present  Convention. 

Failing  the  composition  of  the  Tribunal  by  direct  agreement  between 
the  parties,  the  course  referred  to  in  Article  51,  paragraphs  2  to  5,  is 
followed  (R.  C.,  Art.  55). 

ART.  47. — When  a  ...  Chief  of  a  State  is  chosen  as  arbitrator,  the 
arbitration  procedure  is  settled  by  him  (R.  C.,  Art.  56). 

ART.  48. — The  umpire  is  ex-officio  president  of  the  Tribunal.  When 
the  Tribunal  does  not  include  an  umpire,  it  appoints  its  own  president 
(R.  C.,  Art.  57). 

ART.  49. — When  the  compromis  is  settled  by  a  commission,  as  con- 
templated in  Article  54,  and  in  default  of  agreement  to  the  contrary, 
the  commission  itself  shall  form  the  Arbitration  Tribunal  (R.  C.. 
Art.  58). 

ART.  50. — Should  one  of  the  arbitrators  either  die,  resign  or  be 
unable  for  any  reason  whatever  to  act,  the  same  procedure  is  followed 
in  filling  his  place  which  was  followed  in  appointing  him  (R.  C., 
Art.  59). 

ART.  51. — When  the  States  wish  to  have  recourse  to  the  Permanent 
Court  for  the  settlement  of  a  difference  which  has  arisen  between  them, 
the  arbitrators,  called  upon  to  form  the  tribunal  which  shall  decide 
this  difference,  must  be  chosen  from  the  general  list  of  members  of  the 
Court. 

Failing  the  composition  of  the  Arbitration  Tribunal  by  direct  agree- 
ment between  the  parties,  the  following  course  shall  be  pursued :  each 
party  appoints  two  arbitrators  of  whom  one  only  may  belong  to  its 
own  nation  or  be  chosen  from  among  the  persons  selected  by  it  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Permanent  Court.  These  arbitrators  together  choose  an 
umpire. 


130  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

If  the  votes  are  equally  divided,  the  choice  of  the  umpire  is  intrusted 
to  a  third  State,  selected  by  agreement  between  the  parties. 

If  an  agreement  is  not  arrived  at  on  this  subject  each  party  selects  a 
different  State  and  the  choice  of  the  umpire  is  made  in  concert  by  the 
States  thus  selected. 

If,  within  two  months'  time,  these  two  States  cannot  come  to  an 
agreement,  each  of  them  presents  two  candidates  taken  from  the  list 
of  members  of  the  Permanent  Court,  exclusive  of  the  members  selected 
by  the  parties  and  not  belonging  to  the  nation  of  either  of  them. 
Which  of  the  candidates  thus  presented  shall  be  umpire  is  determined 
by  lot  (R.  C.,  Art.  45). 

ART.  52. — The  States  which  have  recourse  to  arbitration  sign  a  com- 
promis,  in  which  the  subject  of  the  dispute  is  clearly  defined,  the  time 
allowed  for  appointing  arbitrators,  the  form,  order  and  time  in  which 
the  communication  referred  to  in  Article  96  must  be  made,  and  the 
amount  of  the  sum  which  each  party  must  deposit  in  advance  to  defray 
the  expenses. 

The  compromis  likewise  defines,  if  there  is  occasion  for  it,  the  manner 
of  appointing  arbitrators,  any  power  which  may  eventually  belong  to 
the  Tribunal,  the  place  of  meeting,  the  language  it  shall  use,  and  the 
languages  the  employment  of  which  shall  be  authorized  before  it,  and, 
generally  speaking,  all  the  conditions  on  which  the  parties  are  agreed 
(R.  C.,  Art.  52). 

ART.  53. — The  Permanent  Court  is  competent  to  settle  the  compro- 
mis, if  the  parties  are  agreed  to  have  recourse  to  it  for  the  purpose. 

It  is  similarly  competent,  even  if  the  request  is  made  by  only  one 
of  the  parties,  when  all  attempts  to  reach  an  understanding  through  the 
diplomatic  channel  have  failed,  in  the  case  of : 

1.  A  dispute  covered  by  a  general  treaty  of  arbitration  concluded  or 
renewed  after  the  present  Convention  has  come  into  force,  and  pro- 
viding for  a  compromis  in  all  disputes  and  not  either  explicitly  or 
implicitly  excluding  the  settlement  of  the  compromis  from  the  com- 
petence of  the  Court.  .  .  . 

2.  A  dispute  arising  from  contract  debts  claimed  from  a  State  by  an- 
other State  as  due  to  its  subjects  or  citizens,  and  for  settlement  of 
which  the  offer  of  arbitration  has  been  accepted.     This  provision  is  not 
applicable  if  acceptance  is  subject  to  the  condition  that  the  compromis 
should  be  settled  in  some  other  way  (R.  C.,  Art.  53). 

ART.  54. — In  the  cases  contemplated  in  the  preceding  article,  the 
compromis  shall  be  settled  by  a  commission  consisting  of  five  members 
selected  in  the  manner  laid  down  in  Article  51,  pars.  2-5. 


JUDICIAKY  ORGANIZATION  131 

The  fifth  member  is  ex-officio  president  of  the  commission  (R.  C., 
Art.  54). 

ART.  55. — As  soon  as  the  Tribunal  has  been  constituted,  the  parties 
notify  to  the  Court  Office  their  determination  to  have  recourse  to  the 
Court,  the  text  of  their  compromis  and  the  names  of  the  arbitrators. 

The  Court  Office  communicates  without  delay  to  each  arbitrator  the 
compromis  and  the  names  of  the  other  members  of  the  Tribunal. 

The  Tribunal  assembles  at  the  date  fixed  by  the  parties.  The  Court 
Office  makes  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the  meeting  (R.  C.,  Art.  46, 
pars.  1-3). 

THIRD  TITLE 

CONTENTIOUS  JURISDICTION  * 

ART.  56. — The  States  agree  to  constitute,  without  derogation  to  the 
Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration,  an  International  Court  of  Justice,  of 
free  and  unrestricted  access,  based  on  the  juridical  equality  of  States, 
composed  of  judges  representing  the  various  juridical  systems  of  the 
world,  and  capable  of  insuring  continuity  in  international  jurispru- 
dence (C.  J.,  Art.  1). 

ART.  57. — The  International  Court  of  Justice  is  composed  of  judges 
and  deputy  judges  chosen  from  persons  of  the  highest  moral  reputation 
and  all  fulfilling  conditions  qualifying  them,  in  their  respective  coun- 
tries, to  occupy  high  legal  posts,  or  as  jurists  of  recognized  competence 
in  matters  of  international  law  ...  (C.  J.,  Art.  2,  par.  1). 

ART.  58. — The  judges  and  deputy  judges  are  appointed  for  life. 
The  age  limit  is  fixed  at  seventy-five. 

Should  one  of  the  judges  die  or  resign,  the  vacancy  will  be  filled,  by  a 
majority  vote  of  the  acting  judges,  by  co-optation  from  among  the 
deputy  judges.  The  number  of  these  is  completed  at  the  next  Con- 
ference of  States.  If  the  number  of  deputy  judges  should  be  reduced 
to  five  or  less,  an  election  may  take  place  through  the  diplomatic  chan- 
nel, at  the  intervention  of  the  Permanent  Administrative  Council 
(C.  J.,  Art.  3). 

ART.  59. — The  judges  of  the  International  Court  of  Justice  are  equal 
among  themselves  and  have  precedence  according  to  the  date  of  their 
appointment.  The  judge  who  is  senior  in  point  of  age  takes  precedence 
when  the  date  of  appointment  is  the  same. 

The  deputy  judges  when   acting  are  in  the  same  position   as  the 

«  The  following  provisions  are  almost  wholly  taken  from  the  project  of  a 
Court  of  Arbitral  Justice  adopted  in  1907  by  the  second  Peace  Conference. 


132  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

judges.     They  rank,  however,  after  the  latter  (C.  J.,  Art.  4;  C.  P.,  Art. 
12). 

ART.  60. — Before  taking  their  seat,  the  judges  and  deputy  judges 
shall  take  an  oath,  or  make  a  solemn  affirmation,  before  the  Permanent 
Administrative  Council,  to  discharge  their  duties  impartially  and  con- 
scientiously (C.  J.,  Art.  5,  par.  2;  C.  P.,  Art.  13,  par.  2). 

ART.  61. — A  judge  may  not  act  judicially  in  any  case  in  which  he 
has,  in  any  way  whatever,  taken  part  in  the  decision  of  a  national 
tribunal,  of  a  Tribunal  of  Arbitration,  or  of  a  Commission  of  Inquiry, 
or  has  figured  in  the  suit  as  counsel  or  advocate  for  one  of  the  parties, 
as  well  as  in  any  case  in  which  himself  or  one  of  his  family  or  relatives, 
in  direct  or  collateral  line  to  the  third  degree,  has  a  personal  interest 
(C.  J.,  Art.  7,  par.  1). 

Likewise  a  judge  cannot  act  when  the  State  ...  to  which  he  belongs 
is  one  of  the  parties  (C.  J.,  Art.  6,  par.  2). 

A  judge  cannot  act  as  agent  or  advocate  before  the  International 
Court  of  Justice  or  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration,  before  a 
special  Tribunal  of  Arbitration  or  a  Commission  of  Inquiry,  nor  act 
therein  for  one  of  the  parties  in  any  capacity  whatsoever  so  long  as  his 
appointment  lasts  (C.  J.,  Art.  7,  par.  2). 

ART.  62. — The  Court  elects  its  president  and  vice-president  by  an 
absolute  majority  of  the  votes  cast.  After  two  ballots,  the  election  is 
made  by  a  bare  majority  and,  in  case  the  votes  are  equal,  by  lot 
(C.  J.,  Art.  8;  C.  P.,  Art.  19 ) . 

ART.  63. — The  judges  of  the  International  Court  of  Justice  receive 
an  annual  salary  of  twenty-five  thousand  Netherland  florins.  This 
salary  is  paid  at  the  end  of  each  half  year,  reckoned  from  the  date  on 
which  the  Court  meets  for  the  first  time. 

The  deputy  judge,  acting  temporarily  for  a  judge,  receives  the  sum 
of  fifty  florins  per  diem.  They  are  further  entitled  to  receive  a  travel- 
ing allowance  fixed  in  accordance  with  the  regulations  existing  in  their 
own  country. 

The  judges  arrived  at  the  age  limit  or  resigning  by  reason  of  ill 
health  enjoy  their  full  salary. 

These  emoluments  are  included  in  the  general  expenses  of  the  Court 
dealt  with  in  Article  119  and  are  paid  through  the  International  Court 
Office  .  .  .  (C.  J.,  Art.  9;  C.  P.,  Art,  20,  pars.  1  and  2). 

ART.  64. — The  judges  may  not  accept  from  their  own  government 
or  from  that  of  any  other  State  any  remuneration  for  services  con- 
nected with  their  duties  in  their  capacity  of  members  of  the  Court 
(C.  J.,  Art.  10;  C.  P.,  Art.  20,  par.  3). 

ART.  65. — The  number  of  the  judges  composing  the  International 


JUDICIAKY  ORGANIZATION  133 

Court  of  Justice  is  fixed  at  fifteen.  An  equal  number  of  deputy  judges 
is  appointed. 

ART.  66. — The  judges  and  deputy  judges  are  elected  by  secret  ballot 
by  the  States  at  a  session  of  the  Conference  of  States.  To  this  effect 
a  list  shall  be  made  of  all  the  candidates  nominated  by  at  least  five 
States.  Each  State  has  the  right  to  nominate  as  many  candidates  as 
there  are  seats  to  fill;  however,  one  third  at  least  of  the  candidates  nomi- 
nated by  each  State  shall  be  citizens  of  other  States.  Each  State  has 
an  equal  elective  power. 

The  election  of  the  deputy  judges  shall  take  place  after  the  election 
of  the  acting  judges  is  completed. 

To  be  elected  the  candidates  ought  to  have  obtained  at  least  half  of 
the  votes.  If  candidates,  more  numerous  than  the  seats  to  fill,  obtain  an 
equal  number  of  votes,  the  privilege  of  age  shall  be  applied. 

ART.  67. — There  may  not  be  elected,  the  acting  and  deputy  judges 
considered  as  forming  all  together  one  judiciary  body,  more  than  two 
candidates  belonging  to  the  same  nation. 

ART.  68. — The  International  Court  of  Justice  draws  up  its  organic 
rules  .  .  .  which  shall  be  communicated  to  the  States. 

These  rules  shall  especially  determine  the  number  of  chambers  to 
be  instituted  within  the  Court  and  establish  between  them  a  regular 
rotation  of  the  judges. 

After  the  ratification  of  the  present  Convention,  the  Court  shall 
meet  as  early  as  possible  in  order  to  draw  up  these  rules,  to  elect  the 
president  and  the  vice-president  and  to  appoint  the  members  of  the 
Delegation  (C.  J.,  Art.  32;  C.  P.,  Art.  49). 

FOURTH  TITLE 
INTERNATIONAL  PROCEDURE 

ART.  69. — There  is  created,  at  the  seat  of  the  International  Judi- 
cature, an  International  Court  Office,  placed  under  the  control  of  tHe 
International  Administrative  Council,  which  appoints  its  officers  and 
employees,  determines  its  annual  budget  and  formulates  its  organic 
regulations  [M.  C.,  Art.  54]. 

It  shall  place  its  offices  and  staff  at  the  disposal  of  the  various  juris- 
dictions. It  has  the  custody  of  the  archives  and  carries  out  the  admin- 
istrative work. 

The  secretary  general  of  the  Court  Office  acts  as  registrar.  The  nec- 
essary assistant  secretaries,  translators  and  shorthand  writers  are  ap- 
pointed and  sworn  by  each  of  the  jurisdictions  wanting  their  services 
(C.  J.,  Art.  13;  C.  P.,  Art.  23;  R.  C.,  Arts.  15  and  43,  par.  2). 


134  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

ART.  70. — Action  before  the  International  Judicature  is  moved,  ac- 
cording to  the  cases,  by  a  convention  of  inquiry,  by  a  compromis  or  by 
a  writ. 

These  acts  shall  contain  the  conditions  agreed  upon  by  the  parties, 
but  these  may  not  infringe  the  provisions  of  the  present  convention; 
they  shall  define  the  facts  to  be  examined  (R.  C.,  Arts.  10  and  52;  C.  P., 
Art.  28). 

ART.  71. — Of  each  convention  of  inquiry  and  of  each  compromis  a 
copy  is  transmitted  to  the  International  Court  Office,  ivhich  shall  eventu- 
ally take  the  necessary  executive  measures. 

ART.  72. — The  writ,  introductory  to  a  lawsuit  before  the  International 
Court  of  Justice,  may  be  served  at  the  request  of  a  State  in  its  own 
name  or  in  the  name  of  one  of  its  citizens,  or  at  the  direct  request  of  a 
citizen  of  one  of  the  States,  either  upon  another  State,  or  upon  a  citizen 
of  another  State  than  the  State  to  which  the  applicant  belongs  (C.  P., 
Art.  4). 

ART.  73. — A  writ  may  also  be  served  ...  by  persons  belonging  to 
the  same  or  a  foreign  State,  deriving  their  rights  from  and  entitled  to 
represent  an  individual  qualified  to  serve  a  writ,  and  who  have  taken 
part  in  the  proceedings  before  the  national  jurisdiction.  Persons  so  en- 
titled may  act  separately  to  the  extent  of  their  interest  (C.  P.,  Art.  5). 

ART.  74. — When,  in  the  case  where  citizens  of  one  or  more  States  are 
parties  to  a  dispute,  the  International  Court  of  Justice  has  jurisdiction, 
the  national  courts  cannot  deal  with  a  case  in  more  than  two  instances. 
The  municipal  law  of  each  of  the  States  shall  decide  whether  the  case 
may  be  brought  before  the  International  Court  of  Justice  after  judg- 
ment has  been  given  in  the  first  instance  or  only  after  an  appeal 
(C.  P.,  Art.  6,  par.  1). 

ART.  75. — An  appeal,  in  the  case  foreseen  in  the  preceding  article, 
is  entered  by  means  of  a  written  declaration  made  in  the  national 
court,  which  has  already  dealt  with  the  case,  or  addressed  to  the  Inter- 
national Court  Office;  in  the  latter  case  the  appeal  may  be  entered  by 
telegram  (C.  P.,  Art.  28,  par.  1). 

ART.  76. — The  period  within  which  the  appeal  must  be  entered  is 
fixed  at  120  days,  counting  from  the  day  the  decision  is  delivered  or 
notified  (C.  P.,  Art  28,  par.  2). 

ART.  77. — If  the  applicant  does  not  enter  his  appeal  within  the 
period  laid  down  in  the  preceding  article,  it  shall  be  rejected  without 
discussion. 

Provided  that  if  he  can  show  that  he  was  prevented  from  so  doing 
by  circumstances  beyond  his  control,  and  that  the  appeal  was  entered 
within  sixty  days  after  such  circumstances  have  ceased  to  operate,  the 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  135 

Court  may,  after  hearing  the  respondent,  grant  relief  from  the  effect 
of  the  above  provision  (C.  P.,  Art.  31). 

ART.  78. — If  the  appeal  has  been  entered  in  time,  a  certified  copy  of 
the  notice  of  appeal  is  forthwith  officially  transmitted  by  the  competent 
jurisdiction  to  the  respondent  either  directly  or  through  the  International 
Court  Office  (C.  P.,  Art.  32). 

ART.  79. — If,  in  addition  to  the  parties  who  are  before  the  competent 
jurisdiction,  there  are  other  parties  concerned  who  are  entitled  to  appeal, 
or  if,  in  the  case  referred  to  in  the  next  article,  paragraph  3,  the  State 
which  has  received  notice  of  an  appeal  has  not  announced  its  decision, 
the  competent  jurisdiction,  before  dealing  with  the  case,  will  await  the 
expiry  of  the  period  laid  down  in  Article  76  (C.  P.,  Art.  33). 

ART.  80. — If  the  notice  of  appeal  is  entered  in  the  national  court, 
such  court,  without  considering  the  question  whether  the  appeal  was 
entered  in  due  time,  will  transmit  within  seven  days  the  record  of  the 
case  to  the  International  Court  Office. 

If  the  notice  of  appeal  is  sent  to  the  International  Court  Office,  this 
office  will  immediately  inform  the  national  court,  when  possible,  by 
telegraph.  The  latter  will  transmit  the  record  as  provided  in  the  pre- 
ceding paragraph. 

When  the  appeal  is  brought  by  an  individual,  the  International  Court 
Office  will  immediately  inform  by  telegraph  the  appellant's  State,  in 
order  to  enable  it  to  avail  itself  of  the  right  to  take  the  applicant's  part 
or  to  forbid  him  to  bring  the  case  before  the  International  Judicature 
(C.  P.,  Art.  29). 

ART.  81. — If  the  States  at  variance  are  unable  to  agree  upon  a  given 
jurisdictional  mode,  the  most  diligent  State  may  notify  to  the  Inter- 
national Court  Office  which  jurisdiction  is  chosen  by  it. 

If  within  sixty  days  after  information  of  this  choice  has  been  given 
through  the  International  Court  Office,  the  dissenting  State  does  not 
express  its  opinion  about  the  proposed  jurisdiction,  this  jurisdiction 
shall  be  competent. 

If  the  dissenting  State  is  of  opinion  that  another  jurisdiction  should 
be  chosen,  this  interlocutory  question  shall  be  referred  to  the  Permanent 
Judiciary  Delegation  which  shall  decide  in  urgency  and  in  last  resort. 

ART.  82. — If  the  party  does  not  appear,  despite  the  fact  that  he 
has  been  duly  cited,  or  if  a  party  fails  to  comply  with  some  step  within 
the  period  fixed  by  the  competent  jurisdiction,  the  case  proceeds  with- 
out that  party,  and  the  competent  jurisdiction  gives  judgment  in  accord- 
ance with  the  material  at  its  disposal  (C.  P.,  Art.  40). 

ART.  83. — The  competent  jurisdiction  determines  what  language  it 
shall  use  and  the  languages  the  employment  of  which  shall  be  author- 


136  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

ized  before  it  (R.  C.,  Art.  11,  par.  3,  and  Art.  61;  C.  J.,  Art.  23;  C.  P., 
Art.  24,  par.  1). 

The  official  language,  however,  of  the  national  courts  which  have  had 
cognizance  of  the  case,  may  always  be  employed  before  the  competent 
jurisdiction  (C.  P.,  Art.  24,  par.  2). 

ART.  84. — The  States  which  are  concerned  in  a  case  may  appoint 
special  agents  to  act  as  intermediaries  between  themselves  and  the  com- 
petent jurisdiction.  They  may  also  engage  counsel  or  advocates  to  de- 
fend their  rights  and  interests  (C.  P.,  Art.  25;  R.  C.,  Arts.  14  and  62). 

ART.  85. — A  private  person  concerned  in  the  case  will  be  repre- 
sented before  the  competent  jurisdiction  by  an  attorney,  who  must  be 
either  an  advocate  qualified  to  plead  before  a  Court  of  Appeal  or  a 
High  Court  of  one  of  the  States  signatory  to  the  present  convention,  or 
a  lawyer  practising  before  a  similar  court,  or  lastly  a  professor  of 
law  at  one  of  the  higher  teaching  centers  of  those  countries  (C.  P., 
Art.  26). 

ART.  86. — For  the  service  of  all  notices,  in  particular  on  the  parties, 
witnesses,  or  experts,  the  competent  jurisdiction  may  apply  directly  to 
the  Government  of  the  State  on  the  territory  of  which  the  service  is  to 
be  carried  out.  The  same  principle  applies  in  the  case  of  steps  being 
taken  to  procure  evidence. 

Requests  for  this  purpose  are  to  be  executed  so  far  as  the  means  at 
the  disposal  of  the  State  applied  to  under  its  municipal  law,  allow;  .  .  . 
the  fees  charged  must  only  comprise  the  expenses  actually  incurred. 

The  competent  jurisdiction  is  equally  entitled  to  act  through  the 
State  within  the  territory  of  which  it  is  meeting. 

Notices  to  be  given  to  parties  in  the  place  where  the  International 
Judicature  sits  may  be  served  through  the  International  Court  Office 
(C.  P.,  Art.  27;  C.  J.,  Art.  25;  R.  C.,  Arts.  24  and  76). 

ART.  87. — When  it  is  necessary  to  promote  an  inquiry,  the  following 
rules  shall  be  applied;  they  may  be  altered  or  completed  by  the  com- 
petent jurisdiction,  unless  the  parties  have  adopted  other  rules  (R.  C., 
Arts.  17  and  18). 

ART.  88. — Each  party  communicates  to  the  International  Court  Office 
and  to  the  other  party  .  .  .  the  list  of  witnesses  .  .  .  whose  evidence 
it  wishes  to  be  heard  (R.  C.,  Art.  19,  par.  2). 

ART.  89.— On  the  inquiry  both  sides  must  be  heard  (R,  C.,  Art.  19, 
par.  1). 

The  witnesses  .  .  .  are  summoned  on  the  request  of  the  parties  or  by 
the  competent  jurisdiction  of  its  own  motion,  and,  in  every  case,  through 
the  Government  of  the  State  on  whose  territory  they  are. 

The  witnesses  are  heard  in  succession  and  separately  in  the  presence 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  137 

of  the  agents  and  counsel,  and  in  the  order  fixed  by  the  competent 
jurisdiction  (R.  C.,  Art.  25). 

ART.  90. — The  examination  of  witnesses  is  conducted  by  the  presi- 
dent. 

The  members  of  the  competent  jurisdiction  may,  however,  put  to  each 
witness  questions  which  they  consider  likely  to  throw  light  on  and 
complete  his  evidence,  or  elicit  information  on  any  point  concerning 
the  witness  within  the  limits  of  what  is  necessary  in  order  to  get  at 
the  truth. 

The  agents  and  counsel  of  the  parties  may  not  interrupt  the  witness 
when  he  is  making  his  statement,  nor  put  any  direct  question  to  him,  but 
they  may  ask  the  president  to  put  such  additional  questions  to  the  wit- 
ness as  they  think  expedient  (R.  C.,  Art  26). 

ART.  91. — The  witness  must  give  his  evidence  without  being  allowed 
to  read  any  written  proof.  He  may,  however,  be  permitted  by  the 
president  to  consult  notes  or  documents  if  the  nature  of  the  facts  re- 
ferred to  necessitates  their  employment  (R.  C.,  Art.  27). 

ART.  92. — A  minute  of  the  evidence  of  the  witness  is  drawn  up  forth- 
with and  read  to  the  witness.  The  latter  may  make  such  alterations  and 
additions  as  he  thinks  necessary,  which  shall  be  recorded  at  the  end  of 
his  statement. 

When  the  whole  of  his  statement  has  been  read  to  the  witness,  he 
is  required  to  sign  it  (R.  C.,  Art.  28). 

ART.  93. — The  competent  jurisdiction  is  entitled,  with  the  assent  of 
the  parties,  to  move  temporarily  to  any  place  where  it  considers  it  may 
be  useful  to  have  recourse  to  this  means  of  taking  evidence,  or  to  send 
thither  one  or  more  of  its  members.  Permission  must  be  obtained  from 
the  State  on  the  territory  of  which  evidence  has  to  be  taken  in  this  way 
(R.  C.,  Art.  20). 

ART.  94. — Every  ascertainment  of  facts,  and  every  investigation  on 
the  spot,  must  be  made  in  the  presence  of  the  agents  and  counsel  of  the 
parties  or  after  they  have  been  duly  summoned  (R.  C.,  Art.  21). 

ART.  95. — The  agents  and  counsel  of  each  of  the  parties  are  author- 
ized, in  the  course  of  or  at  the  close  of  an  inquiry,  to  present  in  writing 
to  the  competent  jurisdiction  and  to  the  other  party  such  statements, 
requisitions  or  summaries  of  the  facts  as  they  consider  useful  for  ascer- 
taining the  truth  (R.  CM  Art.  29). 

ART.  96. — As  a  general  rule,  international  procedure  comprises  two 
distinct  phases :  written  pleadings  and  rim  voce  discussions. 

The  written  pleadings  consist  of  the  communication  by  respective 
agents  and  counsel  to  the  members  of  the  competent  jurisdiction  and 
the  opposing  party,  of  cases,  counter-cases,  and,  if  necessary,  of  re- 


138  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

plies;  the  parties  annex  thereto  all  papers  and  documents  referred  to  in 
the  cause.  This  communication  shall  be  made  either  directly  or  through 
the  intermediary  of  the  International  Court  Office,  in  the  order  and 
within  the  time  fixed  by  the  parties  or  by  the  competent  jurisdiction. 

This  time  may  be  extended  by  mutual  agreement  between  the  parties 
or  by  the  competent  jurisdiction  when  the  latter  considers  it  necessary 
for  the  purpose  of  reaching  a  just  decision. 

A  duly  certified  copy  of  every  document  produced  by  one  party  must 
be  communicated  to  the  other  party. 

The  discussions  consist  of  the  viva  voce  arguments  of  the  parties 
before  the  competent  jurisdiction  (R.  C.,  Arts.  63  and  64;  C.  P.,  Art. 
34;  C.  J.,  Art.  24). 

ART.  97. — Unless  special  circumstances  arise,  the  competent  jurisdic- 
tion does  not  meet  until  the  pleadings  are  closed  (R.  C.,  Art.  65). 

ART.  98. — After  the  close  of  the  pleadings,  the  competent  jurisdic- 
tion is  entitled  to  exclude  from  the  discussion  all  fresh  papers  or  docu- 
ments which  one  party  may  wish  to  submit  to  it  without  the  consent  of 
the  other  (R.  C.,  Art.  67). 

ART.  99. — The  competent  jurisdiction  is  free  to  take  into  considera- 
tion fresh  papers  or  documents  to  which  its  attention  may  be  drawn 
by  the  agents  or  counsel  of  the  parties. 

In  that  case,  the  competent  jurisdiction  has  the  right  to  require  the 
production  of  such  papers  or  documents,  but  is  obliged  to  make  them 
known  to  the  opposing  party  (R.  C.,  Art.  68). 

ART.  100. — The  competent  jurisdiction  may  also  call  upon  the 
agents  of  the  parties  to  furnish  all  necessary  papers  and  ask  for  all 
necessary  explanations.  The  competent  jurisdiction  takes  note  of  any 
refusal  (R.  C.,  Arts.  22  and  69). 

ART.  101. — The  agents  and  counsel  of  the  parties  are  entitled  to 
raise  objections  and  points.  The  decisions  of  the  competent  jurisdiction 
thereon  are  final  and  cannot  form  the  subject  of  any  subsequent  dis- 
cussion (R.  C.,  Art.  71). 

ART.  102. — The  members  of  the  competent  jurisdiction  are  entitled 
to  put  questions  to  the  agents  and  counsel  of  the  parties  and  to  ask 
them  for  explanations  on  doubtful  points. 

Neither  the  questions  put,  nor  the  remarks  made,  by  members  of  the 
competent  jurisdiction  in  the  course  of  the  discussions  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  expression  of  opinion  by  the  competent  jurisdiction  as  a 
whole  or  by  its  members  in  particular  (R.  C.,  Art.  72). 

ART.  103. — Each  acting  jurisdiction  is  entitled  to  determine  its  com- 
petency by  interpreting  the  introductory  act  in  each  case  as  well  as  all 
other  acts  and  documents  referred  to,  and  by  applying  the  principles 
of  law  (R.  C.,  Art.  73). 

ART.  104. — The  competent  jurisdiction  is  entitled  to  make  rules  of 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  139 

procedure  for  the  conduct  of  the  case,  to  decide  the  forms,  order,  and 
time  in  which  each  party  must  present  its  final  argument,  and  to  ar- 
range all  the  formalities  required  for  taking  evidence  (R.  C.,  Art.  74). 

ART.  105. — The  parties  undertake  to  supply  the  competent  jurisdic- 
tion, within  the  widest  limits  they  may  think  practicable,  with  all  infor- 
mation required  for  deciding  the  dispute  (R.  C.,  Arts.  23  and  75). 

The  agents  and  counsel  of  the  parties  are  authorized  to  present 
verbally  ...  all  the  arguments  they  may  consider  expedient  in  sup- 
port of  their  case  (R.  C.,  Art.  70). 

ART.  106. — The  competent  jurisdiction  may,  at  any  stage  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, suspend  the  speeches  of  counsel,  either  at  the  request  of  one 
of  the  parties,  or  on  their  own  initiative,  in  order  that  supplementary 
evidence  may  be  obtained. 

The  competent  jurisdiction  may  order  the  supplementary  evidence  to 
be  taken  either  in  the  manner  provided  by  Article  86,  or  before  itself  or 
one  or  more  of  its  members,  provided  that  this  can  be  done  without 
resort  to  compulsion  or  intimidation. 

If  steps  are  to  be  taken  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  evidence  by 
members  of  the  competent  jurisdiction  outside  the  territory  where  it  is 
sitting,  the  consent  of  the  foreign  Government  must  be  obtained  (C.  P., 
Art.  35,  par.  3,  and  Art.  36). 

ART.  107. — The  parties  receive  notice  to  attend  every  stage  of  the 
proceedings  and  receive  certified  copies  of  the  minutes  (C.  P.,  Art.  37). 

The  competent  jurisdiction  officially  notifies  to  the  parties  judgments 
and  orders  made  in  their  absence  (C.  P.,  Art.  41). 

ART.  108. — The  discussions  are  under  the  direction,  according  to  the 
competent  jurisdiction,  of  the  umpire,  the  president  or  the  vice-presi- 
dent, or  in  case  they  are  absent  or  cannot  act,  of  the  senior  member 
present  (C.  J.,  Art.  26;  C.  P.,  Art.  38;  R.  C.,  Art.  66,  par.  1). 

They  are  not  public  unless  it  be  so  decided  by  the  competent  juris- 
diction with  the  assent  of  the  parties. 

They  are  recorded  in  minutes  drawn  up  by  the  secretaries  appointed 
by  the  competent  jurisdiction.  These  minutes  are  signed  by  the  pre- 
siding member  and  by  the  registrar  or  by  one  of  the  secretaries  acting  as 
registrar.  These  minutes  alone  are  considered  as  authentic  (R.  C.,  Arts. 
31  and  66,  pars.  2  and  3;  C.  P.,  Art.  39). 

ART.  109. — When  the  agents  and  counsel  of  the  parties  have  sub- 
mitted all  the  explanations  and  evidence  in  support  of  their  case,  the 
president  shall  declare  the  discussion  closed  (R.  C.,  Arts.  32  and  77). 

ART.  110. — The  competent  jurisdiction  considers  its  decisions  in  pri- 
vate and  the  proceedings  remain  secret. 

All  questions  are  decided  by  a  majority  of  the  members  present. 


140  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

If  the  number  of  members  is  even  and  equally  divided,  the  vote  of  the 
junior  member,  in  the  order  of  precedence  laid  down  in  Article  59, 
paragraph  1,  is  not  counted  (C.  J.,  Art.  27;  C.  P.,  Art.  43;  R.  C., 
Arts.  30  and  78). 

ART.  111. — Each  decision  (award  or  judgment)  must  state  the  rea- 
sons on  which  it  is  based.  It  recites  the  names  of  the  members  taking 
part  in  it  and  also  of  the  assessors,  if  any,  and  is  signed  by  the  presi- 
dent and  by  the  registrar  (C.  J.,  Art.  28;  C.  P.,  Art.  44;  R.  C.,  Art.  79). 

ART  112. — Each  decision  is  delivered  in  open  sitting,  the  parties 
concerned  being  present  or  duly  summoned  to  attend;  it  is  officially 
communicated  to  the  parties  (C.  P.,  Art.  45,  par.  1;  R.  C.,  Arts.  34,  80, 
and  81). 

When  this  communication  has  been  made,  the  competent  jurisdiction 
transmits,  if  wanted,  to  the  national  court,  the  record  of  the  case,  to- 
gether with  copies  of  the  various  decisions  arrived  at  and  of  the  min- 
utes of  the  proceedings  (C.  P.,  Art.  45,  par.  2). 

ART.  113. — Each  party  pays  its  own  expenses  and  an  equal  share 
of  the  costs  of  the  trial.  The  competent  jurisdiction  may  however,  as  a 
penalty,  condemn  the  party  against  whom  it  decides  to  bear  alone  the 
said  costs  (R.  C.,  Arts.  36  and  85;  C.  J.,  Art.  29;  C.  P.,  Art.  46, 
pars.  1  and  2). 

If  an  appeal  is  brought  by  an  individual,  he  will  furnish  the  Inter- 
national Court  Office  with  security  to  an  amount  fixed  by  the  compe- 
tent jurisdiction,  for  the  purpose  of  guaranteeing  the  eventual  fulfil- 
ment of  the  two  obligations  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph. 
The  competent  jurisdiction  is  entitled  to  postpone  the  opening  of  the 
proceedings  until  the  security  has  been  furnished  (C.  P.,  Art.  46, 
par.  3). 

ART.  114. — All  differences  arising  between  the  parties  as  to  the 
interpretation  and  execution  of  a  decision  shall,  in  default  of  agree- 
ment to  the  contrary,  be  submitted  to  the  jurisdiction  which  gave  the 
decision  (R.  C.,  Art.  82). 

ART.  115. — The  parties  may,  in  the  introductory  act  or  in  their 
motion  in  limine  litis,  reserve  the  right  to  demand  the  revision  of  the 
decision. 

In  that  case  and  in  default  of  agreement  to  the  contrary,  the  demand 
must  be  addressed  to  the  jurisdiction  which  gave  the  decision.  Such 
demand  may  only  be  made  on  the  ground  of  the  discovery  of  some  new 
fact  which  is  calculated  to  exercise  a  decisive  influence  upon  the 
decision,  and  which,  at  the  time  the  discussion  was  closed,  was  unknown 
to  the  competent  jurisdiction  and  to  the  party  demanding  revision. 

Proceedings  for  revision  can  only  be  instituted  on  a  decision  of  the 


JUDICIARY  ORGANIZATION  141 

competent  jurisdiction  expressly  recording  the  existence  of  the  new 
fact,  recognizing  in  it  the  character  described  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph, and  declaring  the  demand  admissible  on  this  ground. 

The  decision  given  shall  fix  the  period  within  which  the  demand  for 
revision  must  be  made  (R.  C.,  Art.  83). 

ART.  116. — The  decisions  (awards  or  judgments)  are  not  binding 
except  on  the  parties  to  the  proceedings. 

When  there  is  a  question  as  to  the  interpretation  of  a  convention  of 
which  other  States  are  signatories,  the  parties  to  the  proceedings  shall 
inform  all  the  signatory  States  in  good  time.  Each  of  the  States  is 
entitled  to  intervene  in  the  proceedings.  If  one  or  more  avail  them- 
selves of  the  right,  the  interpretation  given  by  the  decision  is  equally 
binding  on  them  (R.  C.,  Art.  84). 

ART.  117. — The  various  jurisdictions  are  requested  to  propose  modi- 
fications in  the  provisions  of  the  present  Convention  concerning  pro- 
cedure. These  proposals  are  forwarded  to  the  International  Permanent 
Secretaryship  to  be  communicated  through  it  to  the  International  Pre- 
paratory Committee  (C.  J.,  Art.  33;  C.  P.,  Art.  50). 

The  States,  though  they  adopt  the  rules  of  procedure  contained  in  the 
preceding  articles  with  a  view  of  encouraging  the  development  of  re- 
course to  the  International  Judicature,  reserve  to  agree  on  other  rules 
(R.  C.,  Art.  51). 

FIFTH  TITLE 
GENERAL  PROVISIONS 

ART.  118. — The  International  Court  Office  is  placed  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Permanent  Administrative  Council  which  appoints  its  officers 
and  employees,  determines  its  annual  budget  and  formulates  its  organic 
regulations  (R.  C.,  Art.  49;  C.  J.,  Art.  12;  C.  P.,  Art.  22). 

ART.  119. — The  cost  of  the  International  Court  Office  and  the  in- 
demnities granted  to  the  acting  and  deputy  judges  of  the  International 
Court  of  Justice  shall  be  paid  through  the  International  Treasury. 

The  Permanent  Administrative  Council  shall  take  care  that  these  ex- 
penses are  entered  in  the  International  Budget  (R.  C.,  Art.  50;  C.  P., 
Art.  47;  C.  J.,  Art.  31). 

ART.  120. — A  Permanent  Judicial  Delegation  is  instituted,  formed 
of  three  acting  and  three  deputy  judges  chosen  annually  from  and  by 
the  International  Court  of  Justice.  They  are  eligible  for  re-election. 
The  election  is  by  ballot.  The  persons  who  secure  the  largest  number 
of  votes  are  considered  elected.  The  Delegation  elects  its  own  presi- 


142  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

dent  who,  in  default  of  a  majority,  is  appointed  by  lot  (C.  J.,  Art.  6r 
par.  1;  C.  P.,  Art.  48)   [M.  C.,  Art,  55]. 
ART.  121.— The  Delegation  can : 

1.  Decide  cases  of  arbitration  referred  to  it  if  the  parties  agree  upon, 
the  application  of  a  summary  procedure. 

2.  Hold  an  inquiry,  under  and  in  accordance  with  the  First  Title, 
Chapter  Two,  of  the  present  Convention,  in  so  far  as  such  an  inquiry 
is  intrusted  to  the  Delegation  by  the  joint  accord  of  the  parties.     With 
the  assent  of  the  parties,  and  as  an  exception  to  Article  61,  paragraph  1, 
the  members  of  the  delegation  who  have  taken  part  in  the  inquiry  may 
sit  as  judges,  if  the  case  in  dispute  is  submitted  to  the  arbitrament  of 
the  Court  or  of  the  Delegation  itself  (C.  J.,  Art.  18). 

3.  Determine  the  competent  jurisdiction  in  case  two  or  more  States 
disagree  upon  it. 

ART.  122. — The  Delegation  can  also  settle  the  compromis  referred 
to  in  Article  52  of  the  present  Convention  if  the  parties  are  agreed  to 
have  recourse  to  the  Court  for  the  purpose.  It  can  also  do  so,  even 
if  the  request  is  made  by  only  one  of  the  parties,  when  all  attempts  to 
reach  an  understanding  through  the  diplomatic  channel  have  failed  in 
the  case  of  disputes  referred  to  in  Article  53,  paragraphs  3  and  4. 

Each  of  the  parties  concerned  may  nominate  a  judge  of  the  Court  to 
take  part,  with  power  to  vote,  in  the  examination  of  the  case  submitted 
to  the  Delegation.  If  the  Delegation  acts  as  a  Commission  of  Inquiry, 
this  task  may  be  intrusted  to  persons  other  than  the  judges  of  the 
Court.  The  traveling  expenses  and  remuneration  to  be  given  to  the 
said  persons  are  fixed  and  borne  by  the  States  appointing  them  (C.  J.f 
Art,  20). 

ART.  123. — The  provisions  of  Articles  70  to  117  are  applicable,  so- 
far  as  may  be,  to  the  procedure  before  the  Delegation. 

When  the  right  of  adding  a  member  to  the  Delegation  has  been  exer- 
cised by  one  of  the  parties  only,  the  vote  of  the  additional  member  is 
not  recorded  if  the  votes  are  equally  divided  (C.  J.,  Art.  30). 

ART.  124. — The  Delegation  decides  upon  the  admissibility  or  refusal 
of  appeals  against  decisions  of  national  tribunals,  when  those  appeals 
are  entered  by  private  persons  and  the  State  to  which  the  applicants 
belong  do  not  take  their  part. 

ART.  125. — A  report  of  the  work  of  the  Court  shall  be  drawn  up 
every  year  by  the  Delegation.  This  report  shall  be  forwarded  to  the 
States  through  the  Permanent  Administrative  Council.  It  shall  also  be 
communicated  to  the  acting  and  deputy  judges  of  the  Court  (C.  J.r 
Art.  15). 

ART.  126. — The  International  Court  of  Justice  shall  meet  each  year 


143 

tn  general  assembly  to  deliberate  on  improvements  to  be  introduced  in 
the  International  Judiciary  Organisation.  The  propositions  drafted  by 
it  shall  be  transmitted,  through  the  Permanent  International  Secretary- 
ship, to  the  International  Preparatory  Committee  to  be  submitted  by  it 
to  the  next  Conference  of  States  (C.  J.,  Art.  33;  C.  P.,  Art.  50)  [M.  C., 
Art.  56]. 

ART.  127. — The  functions  of  judge  of  the  International  Court  of 
Justice  and  those  of  clerk  of  the  International  Court  Office  are  incom- 
patible with  any  national  functions  whatever. 

The  persons  appointed  to  these  functions  are  denationalized  during 
their  incumbency  and  are  placed  under  the  collective  safeguard  of  the 
States.  As  to  the  preservation  of  their  civil  rights  they  may,  however , 
appeal  to  the  legislation  of  their  native  country  [M.  C.,  Art.  64]. 

Members  of  the  amicable  and  arbitral  jurisdictions,  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  their  mandate,  enjoy  the  privilege  of  exterritoriality  (R.  C., 
Art.  46,  par.  4;  C.  J.,  Art.  5,  par.  1;  C.  P.,  Art.  13,  par.  1)  [M.  C.,. 
Art.  65]. 


II 

SANCTION,  COERCION  AND  DEFENSE 

EXPLANATORY   NOTE 

1.  Ideas  seem  to  crystallize  more  and  more  around  the  neces- 
sity of  having  some  organized  force  intended  to  secure  respect  for 
international  law.  But  it  is  obvious  that  a  trespass  against  inter- 
national law  by  a  human  community  is  by  no  means  to  be  as- 
similated with  a  trespass  against  national  law  by  a  single  of- 
fender, a  gang  of  burglars  or  a  crowd  of  rebels.  It  is  easily 
understood  that,  in  these  various  cases,  a  police  force  is  sufficient 
to  preserve  submission  to  law. 

But  very  dissimilar  is  the  case  when  a  whole  people,  armed 
with  the  terrible  and  innumerable  means  of  destruction  actually 
at  the  disposal  of  the  States,  infringes  international  law  and 
openly  and  boldly  violates  its  prescriptions.  To  speak  still  of 
police  force,  of  international  police,  seems  truly  somewhat  ven- 
turesome. 

The  question,  in  our  opinion,  ought  to  be  considered  from  a 
quite  different  point  of  view.  You  cannot  really  punish  and 
amend  a  human  community ;  what  is  to  be  attained  is  to  put  an 
end  to  an  unbearable  disturbance,  to  constrain  those  who  have 
placed  themselves  outside  of  and  above  law  to  yield  to  it  again. 
What  alone  could  be  admitted  is  that  the  constraint  exerted 
should  tend,  like  every  policial  measure,  to  restore  legal  order. 
But  any  further  assimilation  seems  to  us  inadmissible.  Indeed, 
it  is  impossible  to  sentence  to  death  or  to  send  to  prison  a  whole 
human  community,  composed  of  millions  of  beings,  guilty  and 
nonguilty,  among  whom  are  children,  old  men  and  wives,  and, 
doubtless,  also  adult  men  who  do  not  support  their  government 
in  its  infringement  of  international  law.  And  then  there  is  to 
be  taken  into  account  the  psychology  of  the  crowds  and  of  the 

144 


SANCTION,  COERCION  AND  DEFENSE     145 

processes  used  and  abused  by  autocratic  governments  to  intoxi- 
cate the  peoples. 

We  have  tried,  in  consequence,  to  find  an  adequate  terminology, 
and  think  that  the  words  means  of  constraint  express  exactly  the 
goal  we  are  aiming  at. 

2.  People  appear  to  be  more  and  more  convinced  that  the  mere 
use  of  armed  force  is  not  indispensable  and  that  other  means 
exist  able  to  exert  an  action  as  wholesome,  less  cruel  but  as 
effective.  This  conviction,  which  we  share,  has  induced  us  to 
subdivide  the  means  of  constraint  into  direct  means  of  constraint 
and  indirect  means  of  constraint.  The  first  are  the  armies  and 
the  navies ;  the  second  are  the  breaking  off  of  the  multiple  inter- 
national relations  actually  existing  between  peoples,  diplomatic, 
commercial,  financial,  postal,  telegraphic,  telephonic,  the  em- 
bargo on  ships  and  merchandise,  the  refusal  to  receive  the  al- 
legiants  of  a  State  in  fault  or  in  rebellion  against  international 
law,  their  expulsion  from  the  territories  of  other  States,  or  any 
other  means  which  does  not  imply  recourse  to  warlike  acts. 

In  the  project  we  have  drafted  we  have  not,  however,  given 
special  definitions  of  the  various  enumerated  means  of  constraint. 
For  most  of  them  such  a  definition  is  not  necessary,  for  many 
times  use  was  made  of  them  either  by  one  State  alone  or  by 
several  States  acting  in  concert.  It  is  obvious  nevertheless  that 
it  will  be  useful  for  the  States  to  adopt  some  common  rules  about 
the  breaking  off  of  commercial  and  financial  relations,  about  dis- 
posing of  seized  merchandise  and  interned  ships,  about  vessels 
on  the  sea  and  the  freight  in  their  hulls :  it  is,  in  fact,  the  whole 
matter  of  prize  which  ought  to  be  submitted  to  a  careful  revision 
and  reconsidered  from  an  entirely  new  point  of  view.  The  clos- 
ing of  ports  and  frontiers  to  the  allegiants  of  the  State  placed  in 
quarantine,  as  well  as  the  partial  or  complete  expulsion  of  those 
allegiants  from  the  various  countries,  should  also  be  ruled  upon 
in  conventional  provisions.  But  the  solution  of  these  difficulties 
is  not  extremely  pressing  and  we  deemed  that  their  inclusion  in 
the  convention  we  have  prepared  would  uselessly  complicate  it 
and  obscure  the  main  questions  to  be  considered.  The  main 
questions,  indeed,  are  in  our  opinion  the  constitution  of  the 


146  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

armed  forces  on  land  and  on  sea,  as  well  as  the  carrying  out  of 
the  various  means  of  constraint. 

3.  About  the  constitution  of  the  armed  forces  on  land,  an  un- 
derstanding could  be  easily  reached,  if  it  is  true  that  the  peo- 
ples accepted  to  stand  the  tremendous  charges  which  bear  upon 
them   only   because   such   charges   had   a   defensive    aim.    We 
do  not  say  that  their  governments  have  shared  this  opinion  or 
have  not  yielded  to  other  preoccupations  and  to  other  influences ; 
but  they  could  only  obtain  popular  acquiescence  to  their  policies 
of  immense  armaments  by  appealing  to  the  necessities  of  national 
defense.     After  the  present  war  the  peoples  will  have,  we  hope, 
something  to  say  when  new  military  expenses  are  asked  for,  and 
they  will  require  that  the  defensive  character  of  armies  should 
be  respected  and  strengthened. 

Armies  of  militiamen  alone  have  such  a  defensive  character, 
teing  essentially  composed  of  citizens  and  not  of  mercenaries  and 
professional  soldiers.  Switzerland  has  rendered  that  invaluable 
service  to  mankind  of  developing  this  military  regime  in  its 
smallest  details;  a  concerted  action  of  the  States  would  bring 
about  its  application  everywhere  and  give  evidence  of  the  fairness 
of  their  purposes.  The  universal  adoption  of  this  regime  would 
reduce  to  a  minimum  the  noxiousness  of  the  militaristic  spirit, 
maintaining  nevertheless  at  a  maximum  the  defensive  power  of 
the  States.  We  think,  of  course,  that  the  question  of  universal 
disarmament  is  insoluble  at  this  time,  unless  some  unlikely  and 
unexpected  events  arise.  The  only  reasonable  thing  to  be  urged 
is  to  reduce,  to  an  amount  as  low  as  possible,  the  forces  under 
arms  in  normal  times;  such  a  reduction  will  undoubtedly  be 
forced  upon  the  exhausted  belligerents  and  the  neutral  States  will 
be  quite  willing  to  follow  their  example.  These  considerations 
mainly  commanded  the  provisions  we  drafted.1 

4.  As  for  the  forces  on  sea  it  seems  to  us  that  a  more  radical 
and  bolder  solution  is  wanted.    In  the  conception  which  trans- 

i  It  seems  interesting  to  quote  here  an  extract  of  the  message  sent  lately 
"by  President  Woodrow  Wilson  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  in  which  he  supported  the  principle  we  advocate  here:  "We 


147 

forms  all  the  forces  on  land  into  defensive  forces  there  is  no  more 
place  for  national  navies.  Such  navies  would  be  considered,  as 
in  the  past,  as  an  unbearable  menace,  for  it  is  impossible  to  give 
to  them  a  defensive  character.  The  actual  navies  may  lose  their 
aggressiveness  only  by  consolidating  them  in  an  international 
navy,  common  to  all  the  States,  whether  previously  possessing  a 
fleet  or  not.  By  forming  with  the  warships  actually  in  use  squad- 
rons without  nationality  and  scattering  them  all  over  the  earth, 
any  danger  of  predominance  and  maritime  domination  would 
disappear.  It  is  obvious  that  the  powers  intrusted  to  the  various 
national  admiralties  would  be  handed  over  to  an  international 
body,  whose  members  are  to  be  appointed  by  all  the  States. 

5.  The  next  problem  which  required  our  attention  relates  to 
war  implements.  What  kind  of  implements  will  be  used  and 
who  shall  control  their  fabrication?  Many  persons,  even  before 
the  actual  conflict,  asked  that  the  factories  which  produce  mate- 
rial and  munitions  of  war  should  be  taken  possession  of  by  the 
States,  on  whose  territories  they  are  located.  But  such  a  dis- 
possession would  give  no  assurance  concerning  the  use  the  various 
States  should  make  of  the  factories  placed  at  their  disposal.  It 
is  likely  that  some  governments  would  take  advantage  of  it  in 
order  to  hoard  up  means  of  destruction  which  would  constitute  a 
true  menace  for  the  other  States.  It  is  important,  therefore, 
that  the  manufacture  of  war  implements  should  be  intrusted  to 
an  international  body  and  this  solution  is  ours :  all  factories  and 
dockyards  shall  be  placed  under  its  high  direction. 

regard  war  merely  as  a  means  of  asserting  the  rights  of  the  people  against 
aggression.  And  we  are  as  fiercely  jealous  of  coercive  or  dictatorial  power 
within  our  own  nation  as  of  aggression  from  without.  We  will  not  main- 
tain a  standing  army  except  for  uses  which  are  as  necessary  in  time  of 
peace  as  in  time  of  war;  and  we  shall  always  see  to  it  that  our  military 
peace  establishment  is  no  larger  than  is  actually  and  continually  needed 
for  the  uses  of  days  in  which  no  enemies  move  against  us.  But  we  do  be- 
lieve in  a  body  of  free  citizens  ready  and  sufficient  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves and  of  the  governments  which  they  have  set  up  to  serve  them.  In 
our  constitutions  themselves  we  have  commanded  that  'the  right  of  the 
people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed,"  and  our  confidence  has 
been  that  our  safety  in  times  of  danger  would  lie  in  the  rising  of  the  nation 
to  take  care  of  itself,  as  the  farmers  rose  at  Lexington." 


148  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

Moreover,  universal  public  opinion  has  energetically  urged 
that  the  air  and  the  sea  should  be  definitively  cleared  of  the  hate- 
ful murdering  tools  whose  victims  were  mainly  unarmed  civilians, 
women  and  children.  A  special  provision  is  devoted  in  our  proj- 
ect to  the  pledge  to  be  subscribed  by  the  States  not  to  use  in  the 
future,  as  means  of  constraint,  flying-machines,  balloons,  floating 
or  anchored  mines,  torpedoes  and  submarines.  "We  have  added 
to  this  enumeration  suffocating,  poisonous  or  inflammable  gases 
and  inflammable  liquids,  whose  application  has  been  the  cause  of 
unendurable  sufferings  without  producing  appreciable  military 
results. 

Finally,  we  think  that  the  States  will  easily  give  up  the  build- 
ing of  fortresses  in  the  future,  since  renewed  experiments  show 
their  costly  uselessness. 

6.  But  the  most  delicate  question  remains  to  be  solved:  how 
shall  the  various  means  of  constraint  be  carried  out  ?  Those  who 
have  tried  to  find  a  satisfactory  solution  have  thought  that  some 
kind  of  international  executive  would  be  necessary  and  have  not 
concealed  the  difficulty  of  persuading  the  States  to  admit  such  a 
novelty.  But  if  a  more  accurate  study  is  made  of  the  various 
circumstances  in  which  recourse  to  means  of  constraint  is  to  be 
taken,  it  will  be  ascertained  that,  to  carry  them  out,  interference 
of  a  supranational  governmental  authority  is  in  no  wise  wanted. 
It  is  important,  indeed,  to  distinguish  between  the  various  cases 
in  which  recourse  to  an  international  constraint  may  become 
necessary. 

The  cases  in  which  such  recourse  is  likely  to  be  exerted  are 
either  cases  of  inexecution  of  a  convention  or  of  a  judiciary  de- 
cision, or  acts  of  aggression.  The  convention  or  the  judiciary 
decision  may  or  not  have  provided  the  means  of  constraint  to  be 
applied  in  case  of  failure  of  execution.  In  the  affirmative  case, 
it  will  be  sufficient  for  the  State  or  States  concerned  to  obtain  an 
executory  decree,  and  we  deem  that  the  International  Judiciary 
Delegation  is  quite  naturally  competent  for  its  deliverance.  In 
the  negative  case,  we  propose  that  the  International  Court  of 
Justice  should  be  requested  to  decide  urgently  which  means  of 
constraint  is  to  be  applied. 


SANCTION,  COERCION  AND  DEFENSE     149 

As  for  acts  of  aggression,  they  may  be  contemplative  or  effec- 
tive. In  both  cases  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  recourse  to 
means  of  constraint  should  be  an  automatic  one:  the  war  ma- 
chinery of  the  States  should  in  fact  be  set  in  motion  by  order  of 
the  aggressive  State.  We  think,  however,  that  a  discrimination 
ought  to  be  made  between  contemplative  acts  and  perpetrated 
aggression ;  an  appeal  to  reason  may  induce  the  rebellious  State 
to  renounce  its  warlike  intentions,  and  to  this  end  we  have  in- 
cluded in  our  project  the  recourse  to  a  collective  interpellation. 
It  is  obvious  that  this  interpellation  ought  to  be  drafted  in  as 
friendly  a  tone  as  possible  and  should  contain  suggestions  about 
the  manner  in  which  satisfaction  could  be  given  to  the  perhaps 
righteous  grievances  of  the  aggressive  State. 

What  we  have  said  above  shows  clearly  that,  in  no  one  of  the 
hypotheses  foreseen,  the  intervention  of  an  international  execu- 
tive is  needful,  and  we  think  that  this  ascertainment  is  likely  to 
discredit  the  most  serious  objection  to  be  made  against  a  coercive 
organization  of  the  Society  of  States. 

7.  But  if  an  international  executive  seems  unnecessary,  it  will, 
however,  be  indispensable  to  create  a  high  military  and  naval 
committee  intrusted  with  the  co-ordination  of  the  various  na- 
tional forces  and  the  organization  and  direction  of  the  interna- 
tional fleet.  Evidently  such  a  body  will  have  only  a  technical 
mission  and  fulfill  the  task  which  a  collective  war  council  has 
several  times  done  in  international  conflicts,  when  armies  and 
navies  of  various  States  were  compelled  to  act  together.  This 
task  will,  of  course,  be  a  very  important  one  and  problems  of  an 
unusual  amplitude  will  have  to  be  solved,  but  we  are  convinced 
that  the  choice  which  will  be  made  of  the  most  prominent  naval 
and  military  personalities  will  enable  the  committee  to  accom- 
plish its  delicate  mission. 

In  our  project  we  have  given  only  a  summary  sketch  of  the 
organization  of  the  International  naval  and  military  Committee. 
The  Conference  of  States  will  have  to  consider  whether  it  would 
be  necessary  to  enter  into  further  details  or  to  intrust  to  the 
members  of  the  new  organism  the  task  of  ruling  its  activities. 

One  of  the  most  important  provisions  included  in  our  project 


150  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

is  that  which  stipulates  that  the  military  establishments  of  the 
various  States  shall  be  accessible  at  all  times  to  the  members  of 
the  International  naval  and  military  Committee  as  well  as  to  the 
representatives  of  the  States.  The  main  characteristic  of  the  new 
organization  of  the  world  ought  to  be  the  most  complete  good 
faith  in  international  relations;  what  could  be  called  the  me- 
chanics of  the  States  ought  to  lie  open  to  everybody's  knowledge 
and  the  naval  and  military  machinery  more  completely  than  any 
other.  The  peoples  ought  to  give  to  one  another  this  token  of 
mutual  fairness  without  which  the  worst  suspicions  would  con- 
tinue to  make  any  sincere  and  lasting  adjustment  impossible 
between  them. 


ART.  1. — No  State  has  the  right  to  have  recourse  to  force  without 
the  consent  and  the  co-operation  of  the  other  States,  and  only  as  a 
sanction  or  a  judicial  coercion  [M.  C.,  Art.  22]. 

ART.  2. — A  State  which  is  attacked,  outside  of  the  conditions  con- 
ventionally and  collectively  established  by  the  States,  has  a  right  of 
legitimate  defense.  The  other  States  are  obliged  to  participate  in  this 
defense  and  to  make  it  efficacious  [M.  C.,  Art.  23]. 

ART.  3. — The  States  shall  not  have  recourse  to  force  as  a  means  of 
sanction,  coercion  or  defense  before  having  exhausted  all  moral,  politi- 
cal and  economic  means  of  constraint  [M.  C.,  Art.  24]. 

FIRST  TITLE 

MEANS  OP  DIRECT  CONSTRAINT 

ART.  4. — Means  of  direct  constraint  are  the  national  armies  of  the 
various  States  and  the  international  navy. 

CHAPTER  I 
ARMIES 

ART.  5. — The  armaments  of  the  various  States  have  a  merely  de- 
fensive character. 


SANCTION,  COERCION  AND  DEFENSE     151 

ART.  6. — Armed  forces  in  normal  times  shall  be  limited  to  what  is 
requisite  for  the  maintenance  of  public  order  within  each  State.  They 
may  not  in  any  case  exceed  the  proportion  of  one  armed  man  to  each 
thousand  inhabitants.  They  may  be  formed  only  of  militiamen  willing 
to  remain  under  arms  during  one  year.  No  enlistment  shall  be  made 
for  a  longer  term. 

ART.  7. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  adopt  for  their  land 
forces  the  system  of  militia  with  short  term.  Service  in  the  infantry 
shall  not  exceed  90  days,  in  the  artillery  270  days. 

Only  the  officers  of  higher  rank  than  commandant  shall  be  career- 
officers. 

ART.  8. — The  States  may  organize  general  maneuvers  each  year. 
These  maneuvers,  however,  shall  include  only  militiamen  of  the  three 
last  levies ;  they  shall  last  no  more  than  fifteen  days  and  take  place  only 
at  a  distance  of  ten  kilometres  from  the  frontier  of  an  adjoining  State. 

ART.  9. — Militiamen  may  be  recalled  during  the  second  year  of  mili- 
tary service  for  30  days,  during  the  third  year  for  15  days,  and  during 
the  fourth  year  for  one  week.  The  citizens  may  afterward,  in  the 
locality  they  inhabit,  during  the  first  period  of  their  service,  be  called 
to  perform  practice  which  may  not  amount  to  more  than  five  days  a  year. 

ART.  10. — The  military  service  shall  consist  of  not  more  than  three 
periods  running  respectively  for  each  militiaman,  from  20  to  30  years 
of  age,  from  31  to  35,  and  from  36  to  40.  The  militiamen  of  the  first 
class  only  shall  be  summoned  to  take  part  in  a  measure  of  direct  con- 
straint. 

CHAPTER  II 

NAVY 

ART.  11. — The  ironclads  and  warships,  now  in  use  and  owned  by 
the  various  States,  shall  be  considered  henceforth  as  forming  the  inter- 
national fleet.  They  shall  be  divided  into  squadrons  composed  each  of 
and  located  in  the  ports  of . 

ART.  12. — Each  squadron  shall  be  under  the  command  of  an  admiral 
of  a  different  nationality  than  that  of  the  State  in  one  of  the  ports  of 
which  it  may  be  located.  The  vice-admiral  shall  be  of  the  nationality 
of  this  State  and  the  crews  shall  be  formed  of  seamen  of  various  nation- 
alities in  as  equal  proportions  as  possible. 

ART.  13. — To  meet  the  needs  of  the  international  fleet,  dockyards 

shall  be  maintained  at  the  common  expense  of  the  States  at . 

There  shall  also  be  established  international  maritime  stations  open  to 
ships  of  all  nationalities  without  discrimination.  The  dockyards  are 


152  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

placed  under  the  direction  of  the  International  Naval  and  Military 
Committee  which  shall  further  determine  the  location  of  the  stations 
and  the  nature  and  quantity  of  the  products  they  will  have  to  keep  at 
the  disposal  of  the  persons  concerned. 

CHAPTER  III 

ARMAMENTS 

ART.  14. — The  manufacture  of  arms,  engines  and  munitions  of  war 
needed  by  the  defensive  forces  of  the  States  shall  be  realized  under  the 
direction  and  the  control  of  the  International  Naval  and  Military  Com- 
mittee. 

ART.  15. — The  International  naval  and  military  Committee  shall  de- 
termine the  proportional  supply  of  arms,  engines  and  munitions  of  war 
which  each  State  may  hoard  up. 

ART.  16. — The  factories  of  arms,  engines  and  munitions  of  war  as 
well  as  the  dockyards  building  ironclads  and  any  other  warships  shall 
be  taken  possession  of  by  the  States  on  the  territory  of  which  they  are 
located. 

ART.  17. — They  shall  be  indiscriminately  placed  at  the  disposition  of 
the  International  Naval  and  Military  Committee  which  shall  determine 
which  of  these  concerns  it  will  be  needful  to  maintain. 

ART.  18. — The  said  dispossession  shall  take  place  in  the  course  of 
the  six  months  following  the  signature  of  the  present  convention.  The 
implements  of  the  factories  and  dockyards,  in  so  far  as  they  cannot  be 
maintained  in  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  preceding  article,  shall 
be  destroyed  if  it  is  impossible  to  make  another  use  of  them. 

ART.  19. — All  fortresses  whatsoever  now  in  use  shall  be  dismantled 
and  the  States  pledge  themselves  to  build  no  more  new  ones. 

ART.  20. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  use  no  more  any  kind  of : 

1.  Armed  flying-machines  or  balloons  except  as  scouts  or  estafettes; 

2.  Submerged  or  floating  or  anchored  mines,  torpedoes  or  other  sub- 
marine engines  and  vessels; 

3.  Suffocating,    poisonous,    or   inflammable    gases    and   inflammable 
liquids  or  any  other  products  able  to  cause  unnecessary  suffering. 

ART.  21. — No  field  work  whatever  shall  be  performed  at  less  than 
ten  kilometres  from  the  frontier  of  another  State.  No  troops  shall  be 
located  or  own  camps  or  barracks  in  that  part  of  the  territory  which 
shall  be  considered  as  perpetually  neutralized. 


SANCTION,  COERCION  AND  DEFENSE     153 

CHAPTER  IV 
DIRECTION" 

ART.  22. — An  International  Naval  and  Military  Committee  assumes 
the  high  technical  direction  of  the  international  fleet  as  well  as  of  the 
national  armies  intended  to  co-operate  in  the  collective  measures  of 
constraint  and  defense.  Its  seat  is  at  Brussels. 

ART.  23. — Each  State  may  appoint  two  of  the  members  of  the  In- 
ternational Naval  and  Military  Committee.  These  members  are  chosen 
from  the  army  and  navy  officers  of  high  rank  and  in  preference  from 
the  youngest  among  them. 

ART.  24. — The  International  Naval  and  Military  Committee  is  sub- 
divided into  commissions  corresponding  to  the  various  usual  services  of 
armies  and  fleets.  These  commissions  shall  elaborate  the  regulations 
intended  to  secure  the  co-ordination  of  the  services  of  the  various  de- 
fensive forces  of  the  States  as  well  as  the  organization  and  the  main- 
tenance of  the  international  fleet. 

The  instantaneous  mobilization  of  the  national  armies  and  of  the 
international  fleet  shall  be  made  the  object  of  special  measures. 

ART.  25. — The  International  Naval  and  Military  Committee  formu- 
lates its  organic  bylaws.  It  elects  from  its  members  a  Permanent 
Bureau  composed  of  a  president,  of  as  many  vice-presidents  and  secre- 
taries as  there  are  commissions  appointed  and  of  two  general  secre- 
taries. No  State  may  be  represented  by  more  than  two  members  in 
the  Permanent  Bureau.  The  members  of  the  Permanent  Bureau  are 
elected  for  ten  years ;  they  are  re-eligible. 

ART.  26. — The  Permanent  Bureau  carries  into  execution  the  decisions 
of  the  International  Naval  and  Military  Committee.  It  appoints  the 
personnel  necessary  to  the  fulfilment  of  its  task.  It  has  under  its 
immediate  direction  the  whole  of  the  central  administrative  direction  of 
the  forces  of  constraint  and  defense. 

ART.  27. — The  members  of  the  International  Naval  and  Military 
Committee  shall  receive  traveling  and  staying  indemnities.  An  annual 

remuneration  of francs  is  given  to  the  president  of  the  Permanent 

Bureau,  of  francs  to  each  of  the  vice-presidents,  and  of  

francs  to  each  of  the  general  secretaries.  The  remuneration  of  the 
secretaries  is  rated  at francs. 

The  expenses  incurred  thereby  as  well  as  those  needed  by  the  central 
military  and  naval  organization  shall  be  embodied  in  the  International 
Budget.  An  account  of  these  expenses  shall  be  prepared  by  the  Perma- 
nent Bureau  to  be  transmitted  by  it  to  the  International  Financial 
Committee. 


154  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

SECOND  TITLE 
MEANS  OP  INDIRECT  CONSTRAINT 

ART.  28. — The  indirect  means  of  constraint  are  the  breaking  off  of 
diplomatic  relations,  of  postal,  telegraphic  and  telephonic  relations,  of 
commercial  and  financial  relations,  the  refusal  to  receive  the  allegiants 
of  the  faulty  State  and  their  expulsion  from  the  territories  of  the  other 
States,  or  all  other  means  agreed  upon  by  the  States. 

ART.  29. — These  means  may  be  cumulated  and  their  application, 
partial  or  total,  successive  or  concomitant,  shall  be  ordered,  according 
to  the  case,  at  the  request  of  one  or  another  of  the  parties  concerned, 
by  the  International  Court  of  Justice  or  by  the  Permanent  Judiciary 
Delegation. 

THIRD  TITLE 

EXECUTION  OF  THE  MEANS  OP  CONSTRAINT 

ART.  30.— When  a  State  refuses  to  fulfill  one  of  its  obligations 
agreed  upon  in  compliance  with  an  international  convention  or  to  carry 
out  a  decision  delivered  against  it  by  one  of  the  international  jurisdic- 
tions, the  International  Court  of  Justice  shall  be  requested  by  the  State 
which  has,  or  jointly  or  separately  by  the  States  which  have,  to  suffer 
from  the  attitude  taken  by  the  faulty  State. 

The  recourse  shall  be  lodged  at  the  International  Court  Office  or  trans- 
mitted there,  in  case  of  urgency,  by  the  most  rapid  way.  The  recourse 
shall  be  considered  in  plenary  sitting,  all  other  business  being  sus- 
pended, and  the  decision  is  notified  at  once  by  the  most  rapid  way  to 
all  the  States  pledged  to  carry  into  effect  the  means  of  constraint. 

ART.  31. — If  the  convention  or  the  decision  invoked  has  mentioned 
the  means  of  constraint  to  be  eventually  applied,  the  recourse  shall  be 
to  the  Permanent  Judiciary  Delegation  which  shall  immediately  notify 
an  executory  decree  to  all  the  States  pledged  to  carry  it  into  effect. 
This  decree  shall  be  transmitted  by  the  most  rapid  way. 

ART.  32. — The  facts  of  a  State  mobilizing  its  army  without  being 
requested  to  do  so  by  the  Permanent  Naval  and  Military  Bureau,  or  of 
manufacturing  arms,  engines  or  munitions  of  war  or  having  them 
manufactured,  or  of  building  fortresses  or  other  works,  or  of  carrying 
out  any  other  act  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  present  convention, 
shall  be  considered  as  an  aggression  and  shall  vindicate  the  recourse  by 
the  other  States  to  means  of  direct  constraint. 

ART.  33. — Before  exerting  this  constraint,  the  faulty  State  shall  be 


SANCTION,  COERCION  AND  DEFENSE     155 

called  upon  by  at  least  three  States  acting  together  and  asked,  in  case 
of  denial,  to  give  to  the  representatives  of  the  other  States  free  access 
to  its  military  establishments.  Its  refusal  or  silence  shall  be  consid- 
ered as  a  declaration  of  war. 

ART.  34. — The  fact  of  a  State  carrying  out  an  armed  attack  against 
another  State  of  itself  vindicates  the  recourse  to  means  of  direct  con- 
straint by  the  other  State. 

The  armed  attack  is  ascertained,  either  by  the  declaration  of  war 
made  by  the  aggressive  State,  or  from  the  fact  that  its  troops  entered 
the  neutralized  zone  of  its  own  territory  adjoining  the  frontiers  of  the 
attacked  State  or  the  territory  of  this  State. 

ART.  35. — The  Permanent  Naval  and  Military  Bureau,  in  the  cases 
foreseen  in  Articles  32  to  34,  shall  immediately  forward  an  order  of 
mobilization  to  all  the  States  intended  to  take  part  in  the  carrying  out 
of  the  means  of  direct  constraint. 

ART.  36. — The  fact  of  ordering  this  mobilization  implies  the  immedi- 
ate application  of  the  means  of  indirect  constraint  which  may  not 
already  have  been  used  against  the  aggressive  State. 

ART.  37. — The  use  of  armed  force,  as  a  means  of  direct  constraint, 
shall  be  considered  only,  by  the  States  applying  it,  as  a  police  measure 
taken  with  regret  and  unwillingly.  They  shall  make  use  of  it  as 
humanely  as  possible. 

If,  however,  the  aggressive  or  faulty  State  should  deem  it  its  right 
to  make  use  of  especially  cruel  devices,  particularly  toward  the  civil 
populations,  or  of  devices  prohibited  by  the  present  convention,  it  would 
be,  by  a  formal  and  collective  declaration  of  the  other  States,  branded 
as  an  outcast  to  mankind  and  the  most  effective  and  energetic  measures 
of  crushing  its  armed  forces  could  be  used  against  it. 

FOURTH  TITLE 
GENERAL  PROVISIONS 

ART.  38. — The  expenses  resulting  from  the  maintenance  of  the  na- 
tional armies  remain  at  the  charge  of  each  of  the  States. 

The  expenses  resulting  from  the  maintenance  of  the  international 
fleet  shall  be  subdivided  between  the  States  on  the  basis  of  the  tonnage 
of  their  merchant  marine  multiplied  by  the  total  amount  of  their  popu- 
lation. The  States  without  merchant  marine  shall  share  in  these  ex- 
penses proportionately  to  their  population  by  taking  as  a  basis  the 
quota  paid  by  the  State  having  the  smallest  merchant  marine. 

ART.  39. — The  expenses  resulting  from  the  application  of  a  direct 


156  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

constraint  shall  be  subdivided  between  the  States  in  the  proportion  es- 
tablished for  the  expenses  of  the  international  fleet.  In  these  expenses 
shall  be  included  the  indemnities  granted  to  families  in  consideration  of 
the  death  or  invalidity  of  one  or  more  of  their  members  or  of  the  mate- 
rial losses  incurred  in  consequence  of  the  military  operations. 

ART.  40. — When  the  recourse  to  one  of  the  means  of  indirect  con- 
straint has  for  certain  States  consequences  inadequate  to  their  resources, 
an  apportionment  shall  be  made  of  the  damages  inflicted  on  the  basis 
pointed  out  in  the  preceding  articles  and  through  one  of  the  interna- 
tional jurisdictions. 

ART.  41. — The  military  establishments  of  all  the  States  are  all  without 
exception  accessible  to  the  members  of  the  International  Naval  and  Mili- 
tary Committee  as  well  as  to  the  civil  and  military  representatives  of 
the  other  States. 

ART.  42. — The  destruction  of  the  implements  of  the  factories  and 
dockyards,  prescribed  by  Article  18,  and  that  of  all  the  warships,  which 
are  not  or  can  not  be  utilized,  shall  take  place  within  a  delay  which 
shall  not  exceed  one  year  from  the  date  of  the  present  convention.  This 
shall  be  realized  in  the  presence  of  the  delegates  of  the  International 
Naval  and  Military  Committee  and  a  record  thereof  shall  be  drawn  up 
in  triplicate,  of  which  one  copy  shall  be  delivered  to  the  representatives 
of  the  State  on  whose  territory  such  demolition  shall  have  been  effected, 
one  deposited  at  the  seat  of  the  International  Naval  and  Military  Com- 
mittee and  one  at  the  seat  of  the  International  Permanent  Secretaryship. 


Ill 

EMIGRATION,  IMMIGRATION  AND  NATIONALIZATION 

EXPLANATORY  NOTE 

1.  The  problems  concerning  the  contemporary  migration  of 
men  will  become  without  any  doubt  exceptionally  important  dur- 
ing the  years  which  will  follow  the  settlement  of  the  actual  war. 
It  is  practically  certain  that  the  most  destitute  among  the  Euro- 
pean masses  will  try  to  find  more  favorable  living  conditions  in 
the  new  countries  free  from  the  financial  burdens  which  will 
overwhelm  the  peoples  now  involved  in  the  struggle.     Eventual 
measures  of  defense  will  be  taken  by  the  States  which  will  be 
threatened  with  an  undesirable  invasion;  and  yet  how  unfortu- 
nate it  would  be  to  see  the  most  progressive  and  democratic  com- 
munities oppose  the  principle,  tacitly  consented  to  in  fact,  of  the 
unrestricted  circulation  of  men.    It  will,  therefore,  be  of  the 
highest  importance  that  the  States  all  over  the  world  should 
agree  on  the  most  essential  rules  which  should  prevail  in  these 
matters. 

In  the  complementary  convention  we  have  framed  we  have 
endeavored  to  codify  two  kinds  of  provisions,  those  more  directly 
in  connection  with  the  movement  of  men  from  one  land  to  another 
and  those  relating  to  the  assimilation  of  the  newcomers  by 
naturalization. 

2.  If  one  considers  as  a  whole  the  migration  of  men  during 
modern  times,  it  is  obvious  that,  out  of  two  vast  reservoirs  of 
human  beings,  Europe  and  Asia,  the  other  continents,  America, 
Africa  and  Australasia,  were  flooded  by  multitudes  of  individuals 
anxious  to  escape  from  deplorable  political,  moral  and  economic 
conditions.     One  of  these  continents,  in  particular,  was  looked 
at  by  the  emigrants  as  the  land  of  promise,  and  it  is  toward  the 

157 


158  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

United  States  of  America  that  their  most  considerable  numbers 
proceeded  and  proceed.  We  believe  that  we  could  not  do  better 
than  to  be  inspired  by  the  difficulties  experienced  by  the  Ameri- 
can Republic  in  dealing  with  the  reception  and  handling  of  these 
heterogeneous  throngs.  These  difficulties,  indeed,  were  numer- 
ous and  considerable.  If  we  take  the  number  of  persons  landed 
in  North  America  during  the  last  sixty  years,  we  notice  that  from 
a  minimum  of  72,183  in  1862  their  number  increased  to  1,285,349 
in  1907  and  would  have  reached  a  higher  figure  in  1914,  for 
during  that  year,  notwithstanding  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
1,213,480  persons  came  to  the  United  States.  It  may  be  asserted 
that  the  experience  undergone  by  this  country  is  a  decisive  one. 

3.  It  is  especially  against  the  undesirables  that  American  meas- 
ures have  been  taken.  Rightly  the  United  States  has  declined  to 
admit  individuals  who  are  true  human  derelicts ;  they  are  of  the 
opinion  that  those  derelicts  are  the  result  of  the  wretched  social 
conditions  which  prevail  in  some  countries.  Those  countries 
must  bear  the  consequences  of  the  negligence  and  the  indifference 
of  which  they  are  guilty  toward  a  great  many  of  their  people.  It 
would  be  intolerable  if  they  tried,  to  the  detriment  of  newer 
countries,  to  get  rid  of  their  less  commendable  elements. 

We  have  inserted  in  the  third  article  of  our  project  the  enu- 
meration contained  in  the  American  law.  We  consider,  how- 
ever, that  some  distinction  should  be  made  between  the  various 
categories  of  undesirables.  We  think  especially  that  the  abnor- 
mal and  insane  cannot  be  considered  as  a  real  danger  if  they  are 
accompanied  by  members  of  their  family  able  to  take  care  of 
them  or  if  they  come  to  meet  some  of  those  members.  Absolutely 
to  oppose  their  admission  would  sometimes  mean  true  cruelty 
toward  them,  and  their  near  relatives  would  be  obliged  to  leave 
them  in  mercenary  hands  or  to  intrust  them  to  public  charities. 
Appeal  may  be  made  to  similar  considerations  in  behalf  of  in- 
fected patients  who  are  not  necessarily  incurable  and  whom  it 
would  often  be  sufficient  to  submit  to  a  temporary  isolation. 

We  have  also  taken  up,  in  the  sixth  article  of  our  project,  the 
provision  which  denies  admission  to  children  under  sixteen  years 
of  age,  of  whom  some  families  would  disembarrass  themselves  by 


CIRCULATION  OF  MEN  159 

sending  them  afar,  as  well  as  to  workingmen  brought  in  by  con- 
tract at  the  initiative  of  manufacturers  anxious  to  exert  a  pres- 
sure on  the  labor  market. 

As  for  illiterates,  whom  the  American  Congress  attempted 
twice  to  repel,  we  rallied  to  the  views  of  Messrs.  Cleveland  and 
Taft  who  both  opposed  this  measure  by  their  presidential  veto. 
They  were  of  the  opinion  that  illiterates  are  mostly  the  victims  of 
a  defective  educational  organization  in  their  country  of  extrac- 
tion and  that  it  would  be  unfair  to  deny  them  the  opportunity  of 
learning;  illiteracy  does  not  mean  necessarily  intellectual  infe- 
riority. We  think,  however,  that  the  States  ought  to  have  the 
right  to  compel  illiterates  to  acquire  some  education  within  a 
given  time,  if  they  are  of  an  age  to  go  profitably  through  a  course 
of  study. 

4.  There  is  no  doubt  that  theoretically  the  States  should  have 
the  right  to  oppose  a  systematic  invasion  of  their  territory  by 
emigrants  of  a  given  origin,  and  determined  to  impose  their  po- 
litical or  social  conceptions  upon  the  invaded  community,  or  to 
form  in  its  midst  ethnical  groups  purposely  differentiated  and 
imbued  with  particularist  feelings. 

The  fear  of  such  an  invasion,  by  crowds  of  Chinese  and  Japa- 
nese extraction,  has  incited  the  American  people  to  adopt  excep- 
tional and  not  over-justiciable  measures.1  It  was  understood  at 
last,  of  course  outside  the  regions  directly  threatened,  that  legis- 
lation against  definite  emigrants  for  racial  reasons  alone  is  not 
tolerable ;  every  measure  of  this  kind  ought  to  assume  a  general 
character  and  to  be  applied  without  discrimination  to  newcomers 
of  any  origin. 

It  is  on  this  principle  that  we  have  based  the  provision  con- 
tained in  our  project.  This  provision  is  eminently  optional  and 
the  States  remain  free  as  before  to  open  largely  their  frontiers 
to  all  those  who  wish  to  come  and  to  find  a  shelter  behind  them. 
But  as  soon  as  the  States  decide  on  restricting  immigration,  the 
restriction  ought  to  be  general  and  proportional  at  once  to  their 

i  To  value  the  exact  importance  of  this  fear,  it  may  suffice  to  remind  that 
from  1905  to  1914,  out  of  10,121,940  immigrants,  16,391  were  Chinese  and 
106,569  Japanese,  or  1.2  per  cent,  of  the  entire  immigration. 


160  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

native  and  naturalized  population  and  to  the  number  of  persons 
originating  from  the  various  emigratory  countries.  To  give  a 
positive  basis  to  this  last  apportionment  we  propose  to  make  it 
proportional  to  the  number  of  emigrants  of  every  origin  entered 
into  the  immigratory  country  during  the  last  ten  years.2 

It  is  further  in  the  well  understood  interest  not  alone  of  the 
immigratory  countries  but  of  the  emigrants  themselves  to  be 
scattered  over  the  territory  of  those  countries  as  usefully  as  pos- 

2  We  deem  it  interesting  to  show  the  results  which  would  be  obtained 
by  a  reduction,  to  1  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population,  of  the  American 
immigration.  We  have  taken  as  a  basis  the  years  1905  to  1914  because 
the  decrease  observed  in  1915  (from  one  million  about  to  326,700)  would 
have  modified  the  elements  of  the  question  to  be  solved.  We  have  further 
admitted  that  the  actual  total  population  of  the  United  States  of  America 
amounts  to  about  one  hundred  millions.  The  statistics  we  use  are  classified 
according  to  the  racial  origin  of  the  immigrants,  but  this  is  of  lesser 
importance  from  the  point  of  view  we  have  adopted. 

In  the  following  table,  the  first  row  of  figures  indicates  the  total  number 
of  immigrants  of  each  kind  entered  during  the  years  1905  to  1914  and  the 
second  row  the  maximum  number  of  immigrants  which  it  would  be  possible 
to  admit  in  the  case  of  a  reduction  to  1  per  cent. 

Africans  (negroes)   55,079  544 

Armenians    43,784  433 

Bohemians  and  Moravians 102,426  1,012 

Bulgarians,   Serbians,   Montenegrins 129,185  1,276 

Chinese    16,391  162 

Croatians,  Slovenians   330,548  3,265 

Cubans    42,066  416 

Dalmatians,  Bosniaks,   Herzegovinians .  . .        42,887  424 

Dutch,  Flemish  113,222  1,119 

Hindus    6,359  63 

English   502,860  4,969 

Finns 122,158  1,207 

French    159,861  1,579 

Germans   757,611  7,485 

Greeks 322,871  3,189 

Hebrews    1,089,237         10,762 

Irish    385,014  3,804 

Italians   (North) 362,501  3,581 

Italians   (South)     1,916,576         18,935 

Japanese 106,569  1,053 

Koreans    5,408  52 

Lithuanians   187,769  1,855 

Magyars   349,489  3,452 


CIRCULATION  OF  MEN  161 

sible.  The  concentration  of  populations  of  the  same  origin  in 
localities  closed  in  fact  to  emigrants  of  other  nationalities  post- 
pones their  assimilation  and  also  the  amalgamation  of  the  various 
races,  so  necessary  to  the  formation  of  a  collective  spirit,  more 
human,  more  cosmopolitan  and  more  international  than  in  the 
older  countries,  given  over  to  the  worst  suggestions  of  an  acute 
and  sickening  nationalism. 

The  hope  of  the  world  is  in  such  an  adaptation  of  the  greatest 
number  possible  of  men  to  the  new  conditions  of  a  unified  hu- 
manity. It  was  often  proclaimed  that  the  United  States  of 
America  is  the  great  melting-pot  where  the  fusion  of  the  races  is 
performed.  Unfortunately  the  awakening,  in  this  country,  of 
nationalistic  antagonisms,  caused  by  the  great  war,  shows  how 
unstable  still  is  the  amalgamation.  But  a  salutary  reaction  be- 
comes manifest  and  it  is  obvious  that  a  huge  majority  of  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America  are  conscious  of  the 
danger  which  would  imperil  the  American  union  if  the  work  of 
assimilation  should  not  be  resumed  and  energetically  pursued, 
not  alone  in  the  interest  of  this  great  democracy  but  for  the  sal- 
vation of  the  peoples  in  general. 

Drastic  and  perhaps  somewhat  childish  measures  have  been 
suggested,  such  as  the  compulsory  use  of  an  official  language,  the 
obligation  to  Americanize  Christian  and  family  names.  We  are 

Poles    . . 1,063,954  10,512 

Mexicans 104,320  1,033 

Portuguese   82,389  814 

Rumanians     121,473  1,200 

Russians  208,518  2,060 

Rutbenians 217,891  2,152 

Scandinavians    445,922  4,406 

Scotch    197,403  1,950 

Slovaks   303,551  2,998 

Spanish   75,073  741 

Spanish  Americans 12,558  124 

Syrians    ' 61,233  605 

Turks    17,472  172 

Welsh    23,964  23fl 

Occidental  Indians.  Cubans  excepted 12,529  124 

Others   23,819  236 


10,121,940       100,000 


162  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

of  the  opinion  that  the  faculty  given  to  the  States  to  distribute 
emigrants  according  to  their  aptitudes  as  equally  as  possible  on 
their  territory  instead  of  letting  them  settle  by  chance  and  crowd 
certain  cities,  constitutes  the  most  effective  measure  for  inducing 
foreigners  of  various  extractions  to  come  into  contact  with  one 
another  and  of  compelling  them,  without  constraint,  to  use  a  com- 
mon language. 

This  measure  will  be  completed  by  the  faculty  granted  to  the 
States  to  impose  naturalization  upon  aliens  whose  protracted  resi- 
dence gives  evidence  of  their  determination  to  remain  for  ever. 
Perhaps  the  duty  imposed  upon  the  citizens  of  taking  part  in  the 
political  life  of  the  country  by  the  institution  of  compulsory 
voting  would  constitute  a  fortunate  aid  to  this  end. 

5.  The  faculty  given  to  the  States  to  force  aliens  to  be  natu- 
ralized, after  a  settlement  of  some  length,  does  not,  however, 
solve  all  the  difficulties  resulting  from  the  dissimilarity  of  na- 
tional legislations  in  the  matter  of  change  of  nationality.  It  is 
necessary  that  the  principle  that  each  man  ought  to  have  a  na- 
tionality but  should  have  only  one  nationality  should  finally  be 
enforced.  Actually  many  persons  are  without  nationality  or 
have  a  dual  nationality.  The  first  ones  are  those  whom  the 
States  denationalize  when  they  have  sojourned  abroad  during 
some  years,  although  they  have  not  acquired  any  new  nationality. 
The  second  ones  are  those  whom  some  States  (mostly  for  mili- 
tary reasons)  continue  to  consider  as  their  allegiants,  although 
they  have  acquired  a  new  nationality. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  the  highest  importance  that  the  States 
should  agree  not  to  break  the  allegiance  of  persons  of  the  first 
category  without  their  express  acquiescence  and  accept  willingly 
the  breach  of  allegiance  affected  by  their  citizens  who  are 
anxious  to  become  allegiants  of  another  State.  In  the  conven- 
tion drafted  by  us,  we  have  devoted  to  this  subject  Articles  13, 
14,  16  and  17,  the  text  of  which  is  self-explanatory  without 
further  commentary. 

We  have  also  set  down  the  conditions  under  which  compulsory 
naturalization  could  be  realized.  The  delay  of  five  years  pro- 
posed by  us  is  generally  admitted  as  justifying  the  loss  of  na- 


CIRCULATION  OF  MEN  163 

tionality ;  it  is  considered  as  a  tacit  renunciation,  by  a  person  of 
foreign  nationality,  of  his  presumed  intention  to  return  to  his 
country  of  extraction.  We  thought,  however,  that  the  possi- 
bility should  be  given  to  the  alien  resident  to  manifest  his  true 
intention ;  but  a  mere  declaration  cannot  be  considered  as  enough, 
however  often  it  may  have  been  renewed ;  it  ought  to  become  ef- 
fective and  not  to  remain  platonic ;  it  would,  indeed,  be  too  easy 
for  any  emigrant  to  continue  to  profit  by  the  advantages  he  en- 
joys in  the  new  country  where  he  has  settled  and  at  the  same  time 
to  escape  not  only  from  the  responsibilities  and  the  burdens  im- 
posed upon  the  citizens  of  that  country,  but  also  from  those  borne 
by  his  fellow-citizens  in  his  country  of  extraction. 

6.  The  convention  which  the  States  should  sign  would  not  be 
complete  if  it  did  not  try  to  solve  a  controversy,  which  divides  the 
jurists,  concerning  the  nationality  of  the  members  of  the  family 
of  an  alien,  who  has  or  has  not  become  a  citizen  of  the  country 
where  he  settled.     The  problem  has  in  fact  a  double  aspect.    Is 
naturalization  personal  or  familial?     In  conferring  nationality 
ought  the  jus  sanguinis  or  the  jus  soli  to  prevail  ?     We  are  of  the 
opinion  that  the  principle  of  familial  unity  should  predominate 
as  well  in  the  matter  of  naturalization  as  in  the  matter  of  na- 
tionality: the  wife  and  minor  children  will  consequently  follow 
the  nationality  of  husband  and  father. 

A  double  attenuation  should,  however,  be  admitted  in  the  appli- 
cation of  the  principle  proclaimed  by  us.  Firstly,  a  widow  and 
children  who  are  of  age  ought  to  have  the  right  to  recover  their 
previous  nationality  without  being  obliged  to  fulfill  the  often 
very  complicated  formalities  of  a  regular  naturalization.  Sec- 
ondly, it  seems  just  that  the  jus  soli  should  be  applied  to  children 
born  of  alien  parents  on  a  territory  on  which  their  parents  them- 
selves were  born ;  the  reasons  to  be  invoked  are  similar  to  those 
pointed  out  above  to  justify  compulsory  naturalization.  The 
fact  that  compulsory  naturalization  will  be  more  and  more  pro- 
vided for,  in  the  legislation  of  most  of  the  States  with  an  inten- 
sive immigration,  will  make  the  application  of  the  jus  soli  less 
frequent  and  bring  about  its  tacit  abrogation. 

7.  The  general  provisions  in  our  project  are  devoted  to  national 


164  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

and  international  agencies  which  should  be  created  by  the  States- 
in  order  to  exert  a  benevolent  supervision  over  the  emigrants  and 
immigrants  and  especially  to  warn  them  about  the  difficulties  to 
be  overcome  and  the  useless  deceptions  to  be  avoided. 

Among  the  aims  to  be  immediately  reached,  we  have  especially 
indicated  the  unification  of  formalities  and  the  creation  of  an 
International  Labor  Exchange.  Among  the  measures  of  protec- 
tion it  will  be  necessary  to  generalize  those  already  taken  by  sev- 
eral governments  concerning  the  transportation  of  emigrants  by 
land  and  by  sea,  their  reception  at  the  ports  of  embarkation  and 
disembarkation,  their  settlement  in  the  immigratory  countries, 
the  deposit  and  transfer  of  their  savings ;  it  will  be  necessary  also 
to  publish  official  information  on  the  moral  and  material  condi- 
tions of  living  in  the  immigratory  countries. 

As  for  the  creation  of  an  International  Institute  of  Migration 
its  usefulness  is  not  to  be  doubted.3  Some  governments  have  al- 
ready organized  colonial  institutes.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  con- 
venient to  constitute  the  International  Institute  of  Migration  as 
a  federal  body  representative  of  these  national  institutions.  But, 
in  our  opinion,  it  will  be  better  to  leave  to  circumstances  the  de- 
termination of  what  developments  it  will  be  useful  to  give  to  the 
new  endeavor.  It  will  be  sufficient  at  the  beginning  to  apply  to 

s  It  is  interesting  to  state  that  the  American  Congress  in  the  law  of  De- 
cember 2,  1912,  which  was  vetoed  on  account  of  the  provision  relating  to 
illiterates,  introduced  an  article  concerning  the  international  regulation 
of  emigration.  This  article,  forming  Sec.  29,  is  worded  as  follows: 

"That  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  authorized,  in  the  name  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  to  call,  in  his  discretion,  an  international 
conference,  to  assemble  at  such  point  as  may  be  agreed  upon,  or  to  send 
special  commissioners  to  any  foreign  country,  for  the  purpose  of  regulat- 
ing by  international  agreement,  subject  to  the  advice  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  the  immigration  of  aliens  to  the  United  States;  of  pro- 
viding for  the  mental,  moral  and  physical  examination  of  such  aliens  by 
American  consuls  or  other  officers  of  the  United  States  Government  at  the 
ports  of  embarkation  or  elsewhere;  of  securing  the  assistance  of  foreign 
governments  in  their  own  territories  to  prevent  the  evasion  of  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  governing  immigration  to  the  United  States;  of  enter- 
ing into  such  international  agreement  as  may  be  proper  to  prevent  the  im- 
migration of  aliens  who  under  the  law  of  the  United  States  are  or  may 
be  excluded  from  entering  the  United  States  and  of  regulating  any  matters 
pertaining  to  such  immigration." 


CIRCULATION  OF  MEN  165 

it  a  regime  similar  to  that  which  was  adopted  in  behalf  of  the 
International  Institute  of  Agriculture  and  which  proved  effective. 


PRELIMINARY  TITLE 

ART.  1. — Foreigners  enjoy  in  all  States  the  liberties  and  rights  guar- 
anteed to  nationals.  The  States  proclaim  that  these  liberties  and  rights 
essentially  include  individual  liberty  and  security,  inviolability  of  domi- 
cil  and  property,  freedom  of  conscience,  freedom  of  speech,  inviolability 
of  correspondence,  freedom  of  association,  freedom  of  religion.  Re- 
strictions may,  however,  be  enacted  in  respect  to  the  enjoyment  of 
certain  rights  of  elective  franchise  and  of  eligibility. 

ART.  2. — Neither  race,  nationality,  language,  nor  religious,  philo- 
sophical or  social  convictions  may  be  used  as  a  basis  on  which  to  exclude 
or  to  expel  foreigners. 

Nevertheless,  the  States  may  agree  on  regulations  to  be  applied  to  the 
abnormal  or  amoral,  the  insane,  infected  patients,  professional  beggars 
and  vagrants,  persons  who  have  been  convicted  and  all  other  categories 
of  undesirable  persons. 

They  will  also  establish  common  regulations  in  matters  of  change  of 
nationality  and  may  agree  upon  general  measures  relating  to  the  annual 
or  absolute  number  of  immigrants  admitted  to  the  territory  of  each 
State,  or  to  their  distribution  thereupon. 


FIRST  TITLE 
EMIGRATION  AND  IMMIGRATION 

ART.  3.— Are  considered  by  the  States: 

1.  As  abnormals:  idiots,  imbeciles,  feeble-minded  persons,  epileptics, 
as  well  as  persons  mentally  or  physically  defective  and  unable  therefore 
to  earn  a  living. 

2.  As  insane:  persons  actually  in  a  state  of  madness,  persons  who 
have  been  insane  within  the  five  years  previous  to  their  arrival  at  one  of 
the  continental  or  maritime  frontiers  of  the  immigratory  State,  persons 
who  have  had  two  or  more  attacks  of  insanity  at  any  time  previously 
to  their  arrival. 

3.  As  amorals:  persons  who  give  themselves  up  to  prostitution  or  to 


166  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

any  other  immoral  purpose,  persons  coming  into  another  State  than  their 
State  of  extraction  or  of  residence  in  order  to  give  themselves  up  to 
prostitution  or  to  any  other  immoral  purpose,  those  who  encourage 
directly  the  introduction  of  such  persons  or  earn  a  living  out  of  the 
products  of  the  prostitution  of  such  persons. 

4.  As  infected  patients:  persons  afflicted  with  tuberculosis  in  any 
form  or  with  any  contagious  disease  such  as  cholera,  typhus,  bubonic 
pest,  yellow  fever. 

Are  further  considered  as  undesirable  persons:  those  who  have  in- 
curred an  infamous  punishment  or  are  indicted  for  a  crime  entailing 
such  a  punishment,  political  acts  or  misdemeanors  excepted;  those  who 
by  their  declarations,  acts  or  writings,  have  given  evidence  of  their 
intention  to  attack  by  force  or  violence  the  official  and  constitutional 
institutions  of  the  immigratory  State  or  the  representatives  or  agents 
thereof;  those  who  follow,  or  assert  that  they  intend  to  follow,  customs 
or  trades  prohibited  by  the  penal  law  of  the  immigratory  State.  How- 
ever, the  citizens  of  a  State  where  such  customs  or  trades  are  allowed 
will  not  be  excluded  therefor  if  they  declare  that  they  individually  dis- 
like these  customs  or  trades. 

ART.  4. — The  States  shall,  however,  authorize  the  immigration  of 
abnormals  or  insane  if  they  are  accompanied  by  members  of  their  family 
able  to  take  care  of  them  or  if  they  come  to  meet  some  of  those  members. 
The  States  shall  have  the  right  to  enact  legal  or  administrative  rules 
in  order  to  make  inoffensive  for  the  community  the  presence  of  those 
abnormals  or  insane. 

ART.  5. — The  States  which  shall  not  oppose  absolutely  the  immigra- 
tion of  infected  patients  may  submit  them  to  a  regime  of  isolation  as 
protracted  as  seems  necessary  and  eventually  order  their  deportation 
if  their  recovery  is  not  completed  within  a  given  period. 

ART.  6. — The  States  reserve  the  right  to  deport :  children  under  six- 
teen years  of  age  not  accompanied  by  one  of  their  near  relations  to  the 
fourth  degree  or  coming  to  meet  one  of  them;  workingmen  bound  by 
a  written,  printed,  oral  or  tacit  contract  to  lend  their  services  at  a  lower 
salary,  for  a  longer  daily  or  weekly  duration  or  with  a  higher  yield  than 
those  normally  agreed  upon  in  the  immigratory  State  or  fixed  by  the 
local  or  governmental  authorities  of  that  State. 

ART.  7. — Each  State  has  the  right  to  oblige  illiterate  emigrants,  less 
than  fifty  years  old,  to  learn  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  within  three 
years  from  their  arrival  on  its  territory.  The  States  which  shall  have 
recourse  to  that  measure  pledge  themselves  to  give  to  the  immigrants  the 
opportunity  of  acquiring  such  a  learning.  Illiterate  emigrants  not 
yielding  to  this  obligation  may  be  deported. 


CIRCULATION  OF  MEN  167 

AET.  8. — The  States  shall  secure  free  admission  and  free  circulation 
on  their  respective  territories  to  all  persons  coming  temporarily  in  order 
to  study  institutions  and  resources,  to  visit  the  country  as  tourists,  to 
enter  into  contract  or  into  a  parley  with  the  inhabitants,  or  some  of 
them,  with  a  scientific  or  economic  purpose,  to  deliver  courses  of  lec- 
tures or  to  attain  any  other  similar  end.  Legitimate  wives  and  the 
children  accompanying  them  shall  be  admitted  under  the  same  condi- 
tions. 

If,  however,  these  persons,  their  wives  or  their  children  should  decide 
to  become  residents,  they  should  eventually  be  submitted  to  the  restrictive 
provisions  included  in  the  present  convention. 

ART.  9. — The  States  mutually  acknowledge  their  right  to  limit,  if 
they  deem  it  necessary,  to  a  proportional  quota  of  their  native  and  natu- 
ralized population,  the  annual  number  of  emigrants  admitted  to  their 
territory;  this  quota,  however,  shall  not  go  below  one  per  thousand. 
The  last  decennial  census  shall  be  used  as  a  basis  for  the  calculation  of 
the  said  quota. 

In  case  such  a  measure  is  taken,  it  shall  be  applied  without  discrimina- 
tion to  the  emigrants  of  any  origin  in  a  respective  proportion  equal  to 
that  of  the  number  of  immigrants  of  each  origin  entered  into  the 
country  of  immigration  during  the  ten  previous  years. 

Besides,  each  State  may  limit  to  the  twentieth  of  the  total  annual 
quota  of  admitted  immigrants  the  maximum  number  of  immigrants 
originating  from  a  given  country. 

The  States  also  acknowledge  their  right  to  limit  to  the  twentieth  of 
their  total  population  the  number  of  immigrants  of  foreign  nationality 
admitted  to  their  territory. 

ART.  10. — The  States  may  adopt  prescriptions  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  scattering  of  the  new  immigrants  as  equally  as  possible  over  the 
whole  of  their  territory  and  secure  in  the  largest  degree  their  regular 
and  rapid  assimilation. 

ART.  11. — The  deportation,  spoken  of  in  the  preceding  articles,  shall 
consist  essentially  in  the  obligation  imposed  upon  the  transportation  or 
navigation  companies  or  services  which  brought  over  the  deported  per- 
sons, of  taking  them  back,  in  similar  traveling  conditions  to  those  applied 
when  they  came,  to  their  countries  of  origin  or  former  residence. 

ART.  12. — Persons  who  should  attempt  to  go  back,  openly  or  clan- 
destinely, within  a  year  to  the  State  of  immigration  which  deported  them, 
without  having  obtained  a  special  authorization  from  the  competent 
authorities  of  that  State,  are  subject  to  a  condemnation  which  could  not 
exceed  a  fine  of  500  francs  or  an  imprisonment  of  one  month. 


168  THE  GREAT  SOLUTION 

SECOND  TITLE 
NATURALIZATION 

ART.  13. — No  State  may  reserve  to  itself  the  right  to  consider  as 
its  allegiants  for  ever  nationals  who  have  emigrated. 

ART.  14. — Citizenship  is  considered  by  the  States  as  given  up  by  their 
nationals  after  a  five-years'  continuous  residence  abroad,  unless  they 
give  evidence  »of  a  contrary  intent  by  a  declaration  of  allegiance  renewed 
from  year  to  year. 

This  declaration  shall,  however,  be  considered  as  void  if  it  is  not  car- 
ried (into  effect  before  the  end  of  the  tenth  year,  or  is  not  regularly 
renewed. 

ART.  15. — Every  State  may  compel  a  foreigner,  settled  on  its  terri- 
tory for  five  years,  to/ become  naturalized.  It  may  also,  before  the  end 
of  the  fifth  year,  confer  naturalization  upon  a  foreigner  settled  on  its 
territory  who  shall  have  fulfilled  the  formalities  required  by  law.  How- 
ever, ,  in  case  a  foreigner  should  have  made  a  declaration  of  allegiance 
under  the  conditions  prescribed  in  the  preceding  article,  his  naturaliza- 
tion would  take  place  only  after  the  end  of  the  tenth  year. 

ART.  16. — The  States  pledge  themselves  to  consider  the  naturaliza- 
tion of  one  of  their  allegiants  as  canceling  any  allegiance  for  the  State 
with  which  he  was  connected  by  his  previous  nationality. 

ART.  17. — Nationals  who  have  established  their  domicil  or  their  resi- 
dence abroad  are  considered  as  the '  allegiants  of  the  State  with  which 
they  are  connected  by  their  previous  nationality,  and  this  till  the  mo- 
ment they  have  effected  their  change  of  allegiance. 

ART.  18. — The  wife  and  minor  children  follow  the  nationality  of  the 
husband  and  father.  However,  a  widow,  during  the  year  following  the 
death  of  her  husband,  and  the  children,  during  the  year  following  their 
majority  as  established  according  to  their  actual  nationality,  may  revert 
to  their  former  nationality. 

ART.  19. — Children  born  of  alien  parents  may,  during  the  year  fol- 
lowing their  majority  as  established  according  to  their  actual  nationality, 
choose  the  nationality  of  the  country  where  they  were  born,  if  they  have 
sojourned  there  for  at  least  ten  years. 

THIRD  TITLE 

GENERAL  PROVISIONS 

ART.  20. — The  States  pledge  themselves  mutually  to  oppose,  as  much 
as  possible,  the  departure  or  the  transit  of  undesirable  persons  as 
enumerated  in  Articles  3  and  6  of  the  present  convention. 


CIRCULATION  OF  MEN  169 

ART.  21. — Each  State  shall  organize,  in  accord  with  the  diplomatic 
and  consular  body  accredited  near  it,  a  special  office  for  the  supervision 
of  emigrants  and  immigrants.  The  various  States  concerned  may  ap- 
point officers  near  each  of  those  offices  in  order  to  collaborate  with  their 
national  officers. 

Each  State  shall  see  that  transportation  and  navigation  companies 
and  services  situated  on  its  territory  do  not  deliver  tickets  to  emigrants 
without  immediately  advising  the  officers  intrusted  with  the  said  super- 
vision. Each  State  shall  fix  the  delay  to  be  established  between  the 
date  of  deliverance  and  the  date  of  validity  of  the  said  tickets  in  order 
to  make  this  supervision  efficient. 

ART.  22. — Each  State  may  indicate  the  ports  and  frontier  stations 
which  shall  alone  be  devoted  to  the  service  of  emigration  and  immigra- 
tion. 

ART.  23. — An  International  Institute  of  Migration  is  created  by  the 
States,  composed  of  delegates  chosen  from  among  >the  members  of  the 
national  offices  for  emigration  and  immigration.  States  of  which  the 
total  number  of  emigrants  and  immigrants  is  less  than  250,000  shall 
have  the  right  to  appoint  one  delegate;  those  of  which  this  number 
is  higher  than  250,000,  but  less  than  500,000  may  appoint  two  delegates ; 
those  of  which  this  number  is  higher  than  500,000  may  appoint  three 
delegates. 

ART.  24. — The  International  Institute  of  Migration  shall  have  the 
aim  of  promoting  the  adoption,  by  the  above  said  national  offices, 
of  similar  executive  measures.  It  shall  endeavor  to  simplify  and  unify 
the  formulae  used  by  the  administrations  of  the  various  States  and  to 
create  an  international  identification  card.  It  shall  organize  also  an 
International  Labor  Exchange. 


THE    END 


INDEX 


INDEX 


The  figures  in  parentheses  refer  to  the  articles  of  the  Magnissima 
Charta  (M.  C.)  or  to  the  first  (I),  second  (II)  and  third  (III)  comple- 
mentary conventions.  The  other  figures  refer  to  the  pages. 


African  Conference,  1885 20 

Alliances,       their       voidness 

(M.  C.,  20) 33 

Amicable  Jurisdiction  (I,  12- 

37)    68,123-127 

Annexation  of  territory    (M. 

C.,  5) 19 

Appeal  (I,  75-80)   134 

Arbitral  Jurisdiction   (I,  38- 

55)  68,128-131 

Arbitral  Tribunals  (I,  46,  51)  129 
Arbitrators,  appointment    (I, 

45)  129 

Armed   defensive   forces    (II, 

5-10)  146,150 

Arms  and  munitions 24 

Arm    factories,    dispossession 

(II,  16)    152 

Asser,  T.  M.  C 34 

Autonomy  of  States   (M.  C., 

4)     17 

Backward  peoples  (M.  C.,  6) .     19 

Barrett,  John 4 

Berlin  Conference,  1885 26 

Berlin  Congress,  1878 19,    21 

Bignami    4 

Binding  force  of  treaties  (M. 

C.,17) 30 

Bismarck,  Prince  von . .  14, 20,   26 

Bourgeois,  Leon 12 

Bryce,  Viscount 4 

Burdensome  treaties   (M.  C., 

33)     55 

Choate,  Joseph  H 57 

Circulation  of  men  (III).  157-169 


Clark,  John  Bates 4 

Coaling  stations  (III,  13)  24,  151 
Coastwise  navigation,  Congo.     26 

Coercion  (II)    144-156 

Collaboration  of  States 17 

Collective  war  council 149 

Collective    guardianship    (M. 

C.,  6)  19 

Collective   interpellation    (II, 

33)     149,154 

Collective  intervention  (M.  C., 

10) 22 

Colonies,   administration    (M. 

C.,  7) 21 

Colonies,  open  door   (M.  C., 

14)   27 

Colonies,    internationalization    27 
Commissions    of   inquiry    (I, 

18-25)     124,125 

Commissions,    Conference    of 

States    56 

Competency,        International 

Judicature    68 

Competency,        International 

Court  of  Justice 116 

Competition  between  States. .     11 
Complementary     Conventions 

(M.  C.,  69) 93,113-169 

Compromis  (1,52-55) 130 

Compulsory  force  of  treaties 

(M.  C.,  17) 30 

Conciliation,         International 

Council  (I,  26-37)   

39,  117,  125-127 


173 


174 


INDEX 


Conference  of  States  (M.  C., 

28-43)    47-  66 

Appointment  of  delegates.     51 
Automatic  convocation   ...     50 

Commissions    56 

Election  of  the  Bureau ....     55 

Itinerant  sessions 50 

Periodical  sessions  49 

Publicity  of  the  debates. . .     56 

Regulations    55 

Right  of  initiative 62 

System   of   voting 53 

Unanimity  versus  majority    57 
Conflicts  between  States   (M. 

C.,  21) 34 

Conquest    16 

Consultative  Council  of  Cod- 
ification (M.  C.,  42) 64 

Contentious    Jurisdiction    (I, 

56-68)     68,131-133 

Conventions,     binding     force 

(M.  C.,  17) 30 

Conventional    Basin    of    the 

Congo     26 

Costs  of  trial  (1, 113) 140 

Council    of    Conciliation    (I, 

26-37)   39, 117, 125-127 

Council  of  Management   (M. 

C.,  10)    23 

Councillors,  choice  (I,  27) ...  126 

Customs  duties  26 

Customs  Union  (M.  C.,  15) ..     28 
Defective  finances  (M.  C.,  10)     22 

Defense  (II)   144-156 

Defensive    alliances    (M.    C., 

20)     33 

Delegations,     Conference     of 

States   Appointment  ....     51 

Notification    53 

Denationalization,  interna- 
tional officers  (M.  C.,  64; 

I,  127)    88 

Deputy  judges,  International 
Court  of  Justice  (I,  57- 
67)  131-133 


Differential  commercial  treat- 
ment (M.  C.,  14) 27 

Diplomatic  body 42 

Dockyards,  dispossession   (II, 

16),   152 

Dual  nationality 162 

Duties  of  the  States  (M.  C., 

1-27)     11 

Economic      repercussion      of 

war    14 

Election 
Judges  of  the  International 

Court     of     Justice      (I, 

66-67)     133 

Bureau  of  the   Conference 

of  States  (M.  C.,  33) ...     55 

Emigration  (III)   157-169 

Equality    of    States    (M.    C., 

25)     22,116 

European  Concert  39 

Exchange  of  products 24 

Exclusion  of  foreigners    (M. 

C.,  27)    45 

Executory  decree  (II,  31)  148,154 
Expulsion  of  foreigners    (M. 

C.,  27)    45 

Fellowship  of  States   (M.  C., 

2)     14 

Free  disposition,  peoples  (M. 

C.,  5)    18 

Freedom   of   navigation    (M. 

C.,  13)    26 

Freedom  of  the  seas   (M.  C., 

12)     24 

Free  trade  (M.  C.,  15) 27 

Frustratory  treaties 31 

Globe,  its  exploitation  (M.  Cv 

11)     24 

Good  Offices  (I,  12-17)  .....   123 

Gortchakov,  Prince 19 

High     Consultative    Councils 

(M.  C.,  60) 82 

Human  Unity  14 

Illiterates,  immigration    (III, 

7)     159,166 

Immigration  (III)   157-169 


INDEX 


175 


Incompatibilities  (M.  C.,  64)     88 
Councillors   of   conciliation 

(I,  36)    127 

Judges  of  the  International 

Court  of  Justice  (I,  61) .  132 
Officers  of  the  International 
Court  Office  (I,  127)...   143 

Independence  of  States  (M. 
C.,  4;  I,  28) 17,126 

Inquiry,  Commissions  (I,  18- 

23)     124,125 

Inquiry,  Procedure  (I,  87-92) 

136-137 

International    Administration 

(M.  C.,  57-63)   75-87 

International    Administrative 

Bureau  (M.  C.,  59-60)  80-  81 

International  Bank   86 

International         Associations 
(M.     C.,     43,     60,     67) 
Co-operation   with   the   In- 
ternational    Administra- 
tion         82 

Postal  franchise 92 

Right  of  petition  66 

International  Budget  (M.  C., 
62;  I,  119;  II,  27) 
83,  141,153 

International     Collection     of 

Treaties    60 

International  Council  of  Con- 
ciliation (I,  26-37)  

39,  117,  125-127 

International  Court  of  Justice 

(I,  56-68)    

Choice  of  the  judges 116 

Competency   116 

International  Court  Office 
(M.  C.,  54;  I,  34,  41,  42, 
44,  55,  63,  69,  71,  75,  78, 

80,  81,  86,  88,  118) 

...  .72,  127-128,  131-136, 141 

International  disputes,  their 
settlement  (M.  C.,  21 ) . . .  34 

International    disputes,    their 

various  kinds  (M.  C.,  46)     69 


International  executive 148 

International  Federation 6 

International  Financial  Com- 
mittee (M.  C.,  63;  II,  27) 

86, 153 

International       identification 

card   (III,  24) 169 

International  Institute  of  Mi- 
gration (III,  23-24). 164, 169 
International  Judicature    (M. 

C.,  21,  44-56).... 34,  67-  74 
Competency  (M.  C.,  46) . . .  69 
General  assembly  (M.  C., 

56;  I,  126) 73,142 

Rules  to  be  applied  (M.  C., 

51)     71 

International  Labor  Exchange  164 

International  Ministry   6 

International  Naval  and  Mil- 
itary Committee  (II,  22- 

27)     149,153 

International   Navy    (II,  11- 

13)     147,151 

International  officers   (M.  C., 

64,  67)    

Denationalization    88 

Privilege  of  exterritoriality     88 

Travelling  expenses  90 

International  Official  Record.     60 
International   Parliament ....     44 

International  Police 144 

International         Preparatory 
Committee  (M.  C.,  39, 40) 
Appointment   of   its   mem- 
bers          62 

General  report   61 

Regulations    62 

Sessions    62 

Travelling  expenses  62 

International     Procedure     (I, 

69-117)     117,133-141 

International  relations  (M.  C., 

16)     28 

International  services    24 

International     Treasury     (M. 

C.,  63;  I,  119) 86,141 


176 


INDEX 


International  trusteeship 22 

Interoceanic  canals 25 

Interparliamentary   Union. . .     80 
Investigation  on  the  spot  (I, 

93)     137 

Judges,    International    Court 

of  Justice  (I,  57-67)  .131-133 
Judgments  (I,  107,  111,  112, 

114-116)     

Binding  force 141 

Deliverance    140 

Interpretation   141 

Revision   140 

Judicial  coercion  (M.  C.,  22; 

II,  30,  31,  40)... 40,  154,156 
Judicial  organization  (M.  C., 

44-56 )     67-74, 115-143 

Language,  use  before  jurisdic- 
tions (I,  83) 135 

Language,   use  in  polyethnic 

States  (M.  C.,  8) 21 

Laws  of  war 8 

League  of  States 3,   41 

League  to  Enforce  Peace ....       4 
Legitimate    defense    (M.    C., 

23)     40 

Liberty  of  the  States  (M.  C., 

4)    17 

Local  administration   (M.  C., 

8)     21 

Manufacture    of    arms     (II, 

14-18)   147,152 

Maritime   canals,   free   access 

(M.  C.,  13) 25 

Maritime  navigation 25 

Martens,  Feodor 34 

Means  of  constraint 144-156 

Mediation   (I,  12-17) 123 

Migration  (III)    157-169 

Military  alliances  (M.  C.,  20)     33 
Military  expenses  (II,  38-40) 

155-156 

Minor  peoples  (M.  C.,  6) 19 

Modification    of    conventions 

(I,  28)    126 

Mutual  security  of  States ....     15 


National  honor 34-  38 

Nationalities     principle     (M. 

C.,  5)    18 

Nationalization    (III,   13-19) 

162, 168 

Nelidov,    Hague    Conference 

president    14 

Nonintercourse  (II,  28) 154 

Occasional     Commissions     of 

Inquiry   (I,  19)    124 

Offensive  alliances  (M.  C.,  20)  33 
Open  door,  colonies  (M.  C., 

14)     27 

Peace  Conference 

Third  session 3,   47 

1899    5,8,31,   49 

1907    ....5,8,12,13,31,44,   49 
Peace  treaties,  binding  force    30 
Permanent        Administrative 
Council    (M.    C.,    61;    I, 

118,  125)    82 

Permanent     Commissions    of 

Inquiry  (I,  20)   124 

Permanent  Court  of  Arbitra- 
tion (I,  43-55) 128-131 

Permanent  International  Sec- 
retaryship   (M.    C.,    36- 

37)     59 

Permanent    Judicial    Delega- 
tion   (M.   C.,  55;   I,   81, 

120-124;  11,31)  

...73,  135,  141,142,  148,  154 
Permanent  National  Commit- 
tees (M.  C.,  38) 61 

Perpetuity  of  war 34 

Police  force 144 

Police  of  the  seas 25 

Political  differences  37 

Polyethnic     States     (M.     C., 

8;  I,  28) 21,126 

Potestative  clause  (M.  C.,  18)  31 
Powers,  use  of  this  term. ...  6 
Preamble  of  the  World  Pact  7-  9 
Press,  repressive  measures 

(M.  C.,  71) 42,    94 


INDEX 


177 


Privilege    of    exterritoriality 

(M.  C.,  65;  I,  127) 88 

Procedure  by  default  (M.  C., 

48;  I,  81) 70,135 

Protective  taxes   (M.   C.,  13, 

14)     26 

Protectorates  (M.  C.,  7) 21 

Publicity  of  debates,  Confer- 
ence  of   States    (M.   C., 

34)    56 

Recourse  against  treaties. ...  31 
Recourse  to  force  (M.  C.,  22)  40 
Relations  between  Sates  (M. 

C.,  16)    28 

Religious  liberty  (M.  C.,  8) . .  21 
Representation  of  the  parties 

(I,  84-85)    136 

Revision,  international  agree- 
ments (I,  28)    126 

Revision,  World  Charter  (M. 

C.,  68)    92 

Right  of  conquest 16 

Right    of    initiative,    Confer- 
ence  of    States    (M.    C., 

41)    62 

Right  of  petition  (M.  C.,  43)  64 
Rights  and  Duties  of  States 

(M.   C.,  1-27)    11-  46 

Rights  of  men  (M.  C.,  26)  ..  45 
Rights  of  other  States  (M. 

C.,  3)    16 

Rivers,  free  access  (M.  C.,  13)     25 

Root,  Elihu  48 

Sacred  selfishness 13 

Sailing  rules  (M.  C.,  12) 25 

Sanction  (M.  C.,  22;  II) 

40,  144-156 

Seas,  freedom  (M.  C.,  12) . .     25 
Seat    of    international    juris- 
dictions (I,  11)  122 

Secret  treaties  (M.  C.,  19)  ..     32 

Society  of  States  

4,  13,  17,  19,  24,  33 

Solidarity  of  States  (M.  C., 

2)     14 


Sovereignty  of  States  (M.  C., 

4)     17 

Staal,  Hague  Conference  pres- 
ident        12 

State,  use  of  this  term 6 

Straits,   free   access    (M.   C., 

13)    25 

Submission  to  judicial  decis- 
ions (I,  10)   122 

Supervision      of      emigrants 

(III,  21)    164,169 

Titles  and  orders  (M.  C.,  66)     90 
Transfer  of  territory  (M.  C., 

5) 19 

Treaties,  binding  force  (M.  C. 

17)     30 

Treaties,  burdensome  (M.  C., 

33)    55 

Treaties,     compulsory     force 

(M.   C.,  17)    30 

Treaties  of  peace 30 

Treaties,  public  assent  (M.  C., 

19)     32 

Treaties,  recourse  against  ...     31 

Umpire  (I,  48) 129 

Unanimity     rule,     diplomatic 

gatherings    57 

Undesirables,  their  admission 

(III,  3-6)    ....158,  165,166 
Union    of    International    As- 
sociations        80 

United  States  of  the  World  . .       6 

Universal  Republic 6 

Vital  interests 34-  38 

Voting,  Conference  of  States 

(M.   C.,  32)    53 

War  laws 8 

Welfare  of  Mankind   (M.  C., 

1)     12 

World  Confederation 6 

World  Parliament   6 

World  State   6 

Writ  (I,  70,  72,  73)   134 

Zorn,  Philip 34 


DATE  DUE 


